WICHITA, Kan. (AP) – Officials are asking a federal court to block an Oklahoma-based tribe from expanding its casino into southeastern Kansas, arguing it would harm that state’s current efforts to build its own casino in the area.
But the tribe’s chairman shot back Friday, saying the tribe is trying to protect its gaming rights and provide jobs.
Attorneys for the state of Kansas and Cherokee County filed the request for a preliminary injunction against the Quapaw tribe late Thursday in U.S. District Court in Topeka. The state says heavy construction equipment has already been moved onto the parcel of land where the tribe has announced it plans build the casino.
The latest court filing seeks to stop the work until a final determination is made as to whether that parcel of land is eligible for gaming.
Kansas contends blocking construction of the tribe’s casino now will maintain the status quo while the court determines whether the tribe qualifies for a reservation exception that would allow a casino on that land.
“This whole injunction thing is a farce,” Quapaw chairman John Berrey told reporters in a conference call. “There is no construction taking place and so they are chasing ghosts.”
The lawsuit contends the Quapaw tribe misled state and federal officials in late 2011 or early 2012 by providing assurances the land would not be used for gaming purposes. But the tribe argues that it had no intention to change the use of the land until the Kansas Legislature sought to put a state-owned casino in the area in direct competition to the tribe’s casino.
The legal fray is playing out at the same time the state is considering proposals for the development of a gaming facility in the area. The state facility would provide a percentage of lottery revenues to the state and counties, and the Quapaw’s direct casino competition lowers the value of the state’s gaming facility in that zone, according to the court filing.
Any casino built by the Quapaw would provide no revenue to the state or county to compensate for the impacts of such a facility, although the county would be obligated to support it through emergency services and road maintenance without any financial support for those services, the state argued. Construction of the tribe’s casino would also impact the size of the state project and consequently impact the amount of revenues provided to the state and county.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt sued the tribe last month challenging a decision by the National Indian Gaming Commission last year to authorize casino games on 124 acres in Cherokee County. The site is adjacent to the Downstream Casino site in Oklahoma and was purchased by the tribe in 2006 for a parking lot.
The federal government put the Kansas land in trust for the tribe in 2012, and the commission in November declared that the site could be treated as reservation land and used for casino gambling under federal law. The tribe is planning a $15 million addition offering table games, such as roulette, not allowed in Oklahoma.
Schmidt’s lawsuit argues that the commission acted arbitrarily and exceeded its legal authority. Schmidt also contends federal law gives Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback a veto over the tribe’s expansion plans.
But Berrey countered that as a sovereign nation he doesn’t need to ask the Kansas governor for permission, and said Brownback should “mind his own business.”
“All of a sudden because Gov. Brownback is building a casino in my backyard, he decided to attack me,” Berrey said.
In the wake of the state’s lawsuit, the Quapaw tribe announced last month that it would not be partners with developer Phil Ruffin in a proposed Emerald City Casino & Resort north of Pittsburg.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.
