Ponca Tribe honors 'sacrifices our people made' with gaming project
Monday, August 27, 2018
'A new path of prosperity for our tribe'
Prairie Flower Casino in Iowa debuts in October
By Kevin Abourezk
A new casino that will open in late October just five minutes from downtown Omaha, Nebraska, will bear the name of a Ponca chief’s daughter who died on her tribe’s forced march to Indian Territory in June 1877.
The Ponca Tribe’s casino in Carter Lake, Iowa will be called the Prairie Flower Casino, named for Chief Standing Bear’s adult daughter who died of consumption near Milford, Nebraska as her people marched 500 miles from their homes in northeast Nebraska to Oklahoma.
“After exhaustive consideration and valuable input from our tribal members, we’re pleased to announce Prairie Flower Casino as the name of the gaming facility being built on our tribal land in Carter Lake,” said Ponca Chairman Larry Wright Jr. in a news release. “With its name, we honor our tribe’s past and the sacrifices our people made, while charting a new path of prosperity for our tribe. The Prairie Flower Casino will allow us to better serve our members, while bringing economic development and growth to the Carter Lake region.”
The 9,500-square-foot casino will open with 200 slot-style games but no table games. The casino will feature a full service bar and snack bar and will be open to individuals age 21 or older. The tribe plans to hire about 100 employees to staff the facility.
An artist's rendering of the Prairie Flower Casino in Carter Lake, Iowa. Image courtesy Ponca Tribe
The casino will be just the first phase of the Prairie Flower Casino. Future plans will grow the facility’s footprint to include more entertainment, jobs and economic development, according to the tribe.
The tribe held a groundbreaking ceremony for the casino on June 8, 2018.
“This project brings new life to land that has not seen development in my lifetime,” said Carter Lake Mayor Ron Cumberledge at the ceremony. “When I decided to run for office, my main goal was to develop vacant ground that sits idle around our town. I welcome the Ponca casino project and the Ponca people to our community.”
The tribe is using financing provided by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community to fund construction of the casino.
Ponca Tribe on YouTube: Groundbreaking for Casino
Project
The tribe still faces legal challenges from the states of Iowa and Nebraska and city of Council Bluffs, Iowa, where local officials have expressed fear that the tribe’s casino will suck revenue from the city’s own casinos.
The National Indian Gaming Commission ruled in November the tribe could move forward with the casino. The commission initially approved the casino in 2007, but the states of Nebraska and Iowa and city of Council Bluffs challenged that decision.
A federal judge eventually ruled that the NIGC lacked the authority to take action. But the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and gave the agency another chance to consider the matter.
The 8th Circuit said the NIGC should have taken a purported agreement with Iowa into account. But that agreement isn't valid and can't be used to stop the tribe from gaming under the restored lands exception in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, the NIGC stated in its November decision.
The city of Council Bluffs filed a complaint in December against the NIGC, the Department of the Interior and officials at both agencies related to the commission’s November decision approving the casino. A federal magistrate later approved requests from the states of Iowa and Nebraska to join the complaint, which is now pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.
Though Carter Lake is located in Iowa, it is physically surrounded by Nebraska due to the shifting nature of the Missouri River. It's less than a mile from Omaha’s Eppley Airfield, which sees more than 4 million passengers every year.
The city is also less than five minutes from downtown Omaha, a metropolitan region that's home to more than 900,000 people.
