Casino Stalker | Land Acquisitions | Meetings

BIA hosts meeting on Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation casino bid

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

An undated artist's rendering of a proposed Class II gaming facility in DeKalb County, Illinois. Image from Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation

The Bureau of Indian Affairs will host a public meeting this month to discuss the Illinois casino proposed by the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation of Kansas.

The tribe filed a land-into-trust application for the 129-acre site November 2014, The DeKalb Daily Chronicle reported. The BIA is preparing an environmental impact statement as part of the process.

“In November 2014, we submitted a land-into-trust application with the Department of Interior to move our project forward so that we, along with the neighboring local governments, can benefit from our long-standing plans,” the tribe said in a statement to The Chronicle.

The tribe hopes to build a Class II facility on the site, which is located within a reservation that was promised to Chief Shab-eh-nay and his band by treaty in 1829.

The tribe contends the land has never been disturbed by Congress and a top former Interior Department official once described the tribe's claim as "credible" after Republican lawmakers introduced legislation to extinguish all Indian title in the state.

The meeting takes place at 6:30pm on January 26 in the Jenkins Auditorium at the Kishwaukee College Conference Center in Malta. Written comments can be submitted until February 22.

Get the Story:
Feds seek opinions on Shabbona bingo plan (The DeKalb Daily Chronicle 1/12)

Federal Register Notice:
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation's Proposed Trust Acquisition and Gaming Facility Project, DeKalb County, Illinois (January 6, 2016)