Four tribes opposed to a proposed tribal casino in Medford are asking U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to stop the project from moving forward.
For 10 years, the Coquille Indian Tribe has been working to turn a bowling alley on land it owns in Medford into a casino, more than 150 miles from the tribe’s reservation near the Oregon Coast. The project would need to be approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is part of the Department of the Interior, and the land would have to be put into a federal trust. Under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, casinos operated by tribes can be built on reservations, land held in trust by the U.S. for the benefit of a tribe and on land governed by a tribe.
