The Downstream Casino Resort in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. Photo from Facebook
The Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma is seeing more opposition to its casino expansion plans. The Iowa Tribe and the Sac and Fox Nation want to join a lawsuit that challenges the $15 million expansion of the Downstream Casino Resort. The two tribes operate casinos in Kansas and are asserting "competitive and economic interests" in a motion to intervene that was filed in federal court on July 10. "The Iowa Tribe and Sac and Fox interests may be impaired or impeded if not permitted to intervene," the motion states.
The Casino White Cloud in White Cloud, Kansas. Photo from Facebook
The tribes argue that the Quapaws misled the Bureau of Indian Affairs when they filed the land-into-trust application for a 124-acre parcel in Kansas. The Quapaws did not say the property was going to be used for a casino but later asked the National Indian Gaming Commission for an Indian lands determination under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. "The undisputed facts of record are that less than a year after the tract in question was taken into trust for nongaming purposes by the BIA, as applied for by the Quapaw, the Quapaw turned around and applied to the NIGC to game on the land," the tribes wrote in their complaint. "Plaintiffs, relying on the Quapaw's representations that the land was to be used for nongaming purposes, chose not to appeal from the Miami Agency's preliminary decision to take the land into trust." The Iowa Tribe operates the Casino White Cloud in White Cloud, near the Nebraska border. The facility is about 246 miles from Downstream.
The Sac and Fox Casino in Powhatan, Kansas. Photo from Facebook
The Sac and Fox Nation operates the Sac and Fox Casino in Powhatan, also near the Nebraska border and about 42 miles from Casino White Cloud. The Powhatan facility is about 247 miles from Downstream. The lawsuit was filed by the state of Kansas in March. The NIGC was named as the defendant but Attorney General Derek Schmidt amended the complaint to include the tribe and its leaders and officials. The NIGC and the tribe are seeking to dismiss the lawsuit. Get the Story:
Two other Indian tribes want to quash Quapaw gambling expansion plans (The Joplin Globe 7/18) Relevant Documents:
NIGC Indian Land Opinion (November 2014)
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