The Yurok Tribe of California is defending plans to use a portion of a $27.5 million trust settlement to build a casino resort.
The tribe wants to use about $10 million of the settlement to build a casino and a hotel. Chairman Thomas O'Rourke said the facilities will generate at least $3.7 million a year. ”The numbers will get better, not worse,” O'Rourke told The Eureka Times-Standard. “The numbers were feasibly done at the height of the recession.” Some tribal members, however, don't think the reservation's rural location will be a draw to gamblers or tourists. They want to distribute all of the settlement on a per capita basis. “This is a short-sided gamble -- gambling with the tribe's money," organizer James Dunlap told the paper. Get the Story: