Fond du Lac Band continues fight against casino agreement

Monday, November 4, 2013  

The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians continues to battle the city of Duluth, Minnesota, over a casino agreement that was invalidated by the National Indian Gaming Commission.

The agreement requires the tribe to share 19 percent of gross revenues with the city. From 1994 though 2009, the tribe paid $75 million.

“This notion of a partnership is a fallacy,” Chairwoman Karen Diver told The Minneapolis Star Tribune. “We just plain paid them, sent them checks. That’s not a partnership. That’s alimony.”

The city sued the tribe when the payments stopped in 2009. The federal courts sided with the tribe but a dispute remains over an estimated $12 million that would have been paid between 2009 and 2011, when the NIGC invalidated the agreement.

The city is also suing the NIGC but a decision hasn't been reached in that case.

Separately, the city is trying to stop the tribe from acquiring land in trust next to the casino site. Arguments in City of Duluth v. Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa will be heard by the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Get the Story:
Fond du Lac tribe’s leader stands firm in casino fight with Duluth (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 11/4)

Fond du Lac Band weighs next step in gaming lease dispute (10/10)