Staff report

Tohono O’odham Nation and the state of Arizona jointly announced last week an agreement to settle their dispute regarding the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley near Glendale, according to a news release.

Under this agreement, the tribe will move forward with Class III or Las Vegas-style gaming such as slot machines, house-banked poker and blackjack at its West Valley facility under an amended tribal-state gaming compact.

“This agreement is a major victory for Arizona, one that ensures that there are meaningful restrictions on additional casinos in the greater-Phoenix-metro area.” Gov. Doug Ducey said in a released statement. “This agreement brings the litigation on this issue to a close. It is time for us to move forward together. I am eager to continue meeting with gaming tribes to discuss how we can modernize the tribal-state gaming compacts and create positive economic opportunities for all Arizonans. I welcome the Tohono O’odham Nation to this process.”

The state will process the West Valley facility’s Class III gaming certification and liquor license in the normal course of the regulatory process. The state has also agreed that it will not oppose the tribe’s efforts to have its land immediately adjacent to the West Valley facility taken into trust.

In exchange, the tribe has agreed not to conduct Class II, games such as bingo and card games which players play only against each other, and the house cannot win, or Class III gaming anywhere else in a designated geographical area that includes metropolitan Phoenix during the term of the agreement.

“This is a day the Nation has long been working toward,” said tribal Chairman Edward Manuel in a statement. “It establishes an agreement concerning the Nation’s ability to conduct Class III gaming on its West Valley land and it brings to an end the final dispute that was constraining this important project. The Nation is eager to continue with its West Valley investment to create thousands of new jobs, positive economic development, and a world-class casino resort that all of Arizona can be proud of.”

Additionally, although the tribe will retain its ability to acquire new reservation land under the terms of Public Law 99-503, known as the “Gila Bend Indian Reservation Lands Replacement Act,” the tribe also has agreed not to request that the Secretary of the Interior take any other land in that area into trust for the purpose of gaming during the agreement term.

The act allowed for the replacement of Tohono O’odham land near Gila Bend that was damaged after a federally built dam caused flooding.

The restrictions terminates if federal or state legislation is enacted that bars the tribe from conducting Class II or Class III gaming on the West Valley land, or if another tribe conducts Class III gaming on new trust lands in the designated geographical area.

As part of the agreement, the state and the tribe will amend their existing compact to confirm that the tribe may conduct Class III gaming at one gaming facility on its West Valley land, but nowhere else within the designated geographical area. This compact amendment must be reviewed and approved or deemed approved by the Interior Secretary before the settlement agreement becomes effective.

This agreement will last for the remainder of the term of the tribe’s current tribal-state gaming compact plus the term of any successor compact or, if there is no successor compact, for 15 years after the agreement becomes effective.

The agreement puts to rest the last pending lawsuit over the West Valley facility. As part of the agreement ending the litigation, all parties will bear their own attorneys’ fees for all of the legal proceedings relating to this dispute. Currently, there are 23 Class III gaming facilities in Arizona, operated by 16 different tribes, according to Arizona Department of Gaming.