Casino Stalker | Compacts | Regulation

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe defends casino despite hurdles

Friday, March 22, 2013

Rendering of proposed First Light Resort and Casino. Image from Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe defended its casino plan at a public meeting before the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Thursday.

The tribe has filed a land-into-trust application for a casino in the city of Taunton. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has promised a decision this spring.

The tribe also signed a new Class III gaming compact with Gov. Deval Patrick (D). The deal was rewritten to address concerns the BIA had raised about revenue sharing.

"I'm here to tell you that our project is on track, that in fact we have made historic and swift progress toward our land being taken into trust by the secretary of the Interior," Chairman Cedric Cromwell told the commission, The Cape Cod Times reported. "We will have shovels in the ground by this time next year and will open for gaming by early 2015."

Other speakers, however, urged the commission to open up the southeastern Massachusetts region to non-Indian bidders due to hurdles the tribe is facing. The main issue is the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, which restricts the land-into-trust process to tribes that were "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934.

The Mashpees didn't gain federal recognition until May 2007. "Without land in trust — the horse — the cart cannot move forward," said Marsha Sajer, an attorney for a non-Indian company that's suing the state to open up the region, The Cape Cod Times reported.

The commission has the ability to open up the region if it determines the tribe isn't making progress. A decision hasn't been made to do that.