Doubts cloud Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe casino

Monday, July 27, 2009  

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts remains optimistic of its casino plan despite a slew of setbacks.

The tribe's former chairman, who pushed for the casino, resigned and was charged with federal crimes. The casino investors have since stopped making monthly payments to the tribe, whose leaders want to negotiate a new deal.

“Just because the process hasn’t been easy, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s not going to be done,” vice chairman Aaron Tobey told The Brockton Enterprise.

The biggest challenge may be the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar. The decision limits the land-into-trust process to tribes that were "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934 but the Mashpees weren't recognized until 2007.

Tobey believes the Obama administration will take action this year to address the decision. A gaming expert finds that unlikely.

“From everything I’ve heard from Washington, that’s just not going to happen,” Clyde Barrow of the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth told the paper.

Get the Story:
Two years after historic deal, no casino in sight for Middleboro (The Brockton Enterprise 7/26)
Report doubts Mashpee tribe’s ties to Middleboro (The Brockton Enterprise 7/26)
Middleboro selectmen to decide how to spend tribe’s money (The Brockton Enterprise 7/27)
Anti-casino group joins forces with Halifax (The Brockton Enterprise 7/27)