Tribes quit Arizona Indian Gaming Association to protest new casino

Friday, May 6, 2016

A row of electronic gaming machines at the Desert Diamond West Valley Casino and Resort in Glendale, Arizona. The Tohono O'odham Nation owns and operates the facility. Photo from Facebook

Update: The original version of this post quoted from a letter attributed to Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen R. Lewis. That letter is included in the press release announcing the withdrawal. However, the tribe has since posted a letter on Facebook that includes slightly different language. The post has been updated to reflect that letter and not the one in the press release.

Two tribes have quit the Arizona Indian Gaming Association in protest of a new casino.

The Gila River Indian Community and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community have spent millions of dollars trying to stop the Tohono O'odham Nation from opening the Desert Diamond West Valley Casino and Resort. They were unsuccessful and now they are blaming AIGA for not taking a stronger stance against the new development.

"For most of the past 20 years, Arizona Tribes have been unified on gaming matters," Gila River Governor Stephen R. Lewis wrote in a letter on Friday. "That unity has been the most important source of our strength and success. But, when one tribe deliberately chooses a secret path that it knows will create disunity within AIGA, the organization’s continued silence weakens us all."

Salt River leaders signed a similar letter on Friday and President Delbert W. Ray Sr., posted a video explaining the decision to leave AIGA, whose mission is to speak for tribes with "one, unified voice."

Arizona Casino Wars: Tribes battle over new gaming facility in the Phoenix area

The Tohono O'odham Nation's casino is located in Glendale, a suburb on the western side of Phoenix. The Gila River Indian Community and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community operate casinos to the south and east of the city, the largest in Arizona.

The casino opened to big crowds on December 20, 2015, after the rival tribes and the state of Arizona failed to stop the development in the court system and in Congress. The facility, however, cannot offer Class III games because the state is refusing to certify it under the Class III compact.

The tribe has a lawsuit pending in federal court in hopes of resolving that issue.

Get the Story:
Two of state's largest tribes leave Arizona Indian Gaming Association (The Phoenix Business Journal 5/6)
Two of Valley's largest gaming tribes resign from Arizona Indian Gaming Association (ABC15 5/6)

9th Circuit Court of Appeals Decision:
Arizona v. Tohono O'odham Nation (March 29, 2016)