The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe will buy 300 acres from Fall River, Massachusetts, for $21 million under a deal approved by a city agency.
The tribe plans to use the land for a resort. The facility will be built in two phases, with a $140 million casino to come first, followed by two hotels and retail development.
The tribe still has to file a land-into-trust application for the site. News reports do not indicate when that might happen. The Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe is pressing for a casino in the city as well. The tribe has a deal to buy 230 acres for a gaming and housing project. Both tribes would face questions under the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar. The decision restricts the land-into-trust process to tribes that were "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934. The Aquinnah gained recognition in 1987 and the Mashpee gained recognition in 2007. Legislation to fix the decision has stalled in Congress so the Obama administration plans to issue regulations to address the issue. Get the Story: