Litigation | NIGC

Fond du Lac Band wants to resolve long-running gaming fight

Monday, August 3, 2015

Artist's rendering of the new exterior of the Fond-du-Luth Casino in Duluth, Minnesota. The tribe is spending $5.5 million to renovate the facility. Image from Fond du Lac Band

The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians reiterated its desire to settle a long-running gaming dispute with the city of Duluth, Minnesota.

The tribe already paid $75 million to the city for hosting the Fond-du-Luth Casino. But that revenue sharing arrangement has been deemed illegal by the National Indian Gaming Commission, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the federal courts.

The tribe has since offered to pay the city for services provided to the casino as well as to make up for property taxes for a site adjacent to the casino that is the subject of a land-into-trust application. At least $200,000 a year has been put on the table.

The city, however, demanded $2 million a year, The Duluth News Tribune reported in April. The tribe walked out of mediation but Chairwoman Karen Diver said the offer still stands.

"The Band continues to hope that the whole matter can be put to rest,” Diver told Northland News after a judge sided with the tribe over another $13 million that the city claimed it was owed under the invalidated revenue sharing arrangement.

Get the Story:
Federal judge sides with Fond du Lac band in casino dispute with Duluth (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 8/2)

D.C. Federal Court Decision:
Duluth v. National Indian Gaming Commission (March 31, 2015)

8th Circuit Decision:
Duluth v. Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (May 8, 2015)

Prior 8th Circuit Decision:
City of Duluth v. Fond Du Lac Band (January 14, 2013)