Compacts | Litigation | Openings & Closings

Quapaw Tribe concedes loss in casino compact lawsuit in Kansas

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

The Downstream Casino Resort in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. Photo from Facebook

The Quapaw Tribe is conceding defeat in its gaming compact lawsuit against the state of Kansas.

The tribe filed the complaint on January 19, accusing the state of failing to negotiate in "good faith" as required by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

But the state asserted a sovereign immunity defense in a motion to dismiss last week and the tribe has agreed that the case should be dismissed.

"In view of Kansas’ election to assert the bar of sovereign immunity as a defense to this action under controlling law, this action should be dismissed based upon the State’s Eleventh Amendment immunity," the tribe's attorneys wrote on Monday.

The dispute, though, is not necessarily over. The tribe could ask the Bureau of Indian Affairs to issue Class III procedures because the state won't negotiate.

Class III gaming is legal in Kansas and the state already has compacts with four other tribes.

The Quapaws are seeking to expand the Downstream Casino Resort onto tribal trust land in Kansas but the state filed a lawsuit, questioning whether the land can be used for gaming. A federal judge dismissed the case but the state is appealing. A mediation conference was held on February 18 to discuss a possible settlement, The Joplin Globe reported.

Get the Story:
Quapaw tribe seeks dismissal of federal lawsuit against Kansas in gambling issue (The Joplin Globe 3/2)
Attorneys talk settlement in federal lawsuit regarding Downstream expansion (The Joplin Globe 2/26)

Relevant Documents:
NIGC Indian Land Opinion For Site in Kansas (November 2014)