Approval of Koi Nation casino in California wine country built on obscure rule of tribal law

Saturday, January 18, 2025 12:06 PM
  • Phil Barber, The Press Democrat

As the Koi Nation spent the past three-plus years fighting for the right to develop a casino on a prized tract of land just outside Windsor, the fight was always on two fronts.

On the ground, the Koi, a small band of Southeastern Pomo Indians, faced vocal, galvanized opposition from residents of the Shiloh neighborhood, who were aghast at the thought of a large resort-casino in their quiet, mostly upscale community.

And across the country, in Washington DC, the tribe faced a different challenge. They had to convince the U.S. Department of the Interior that their people fit the requirements of the “restored lands exception,” an obscure element of tribal gaming law meant to offer a leg up for tribes that had been dispossessed and marginalized by the government.