DOI sued over Spokane casino complex

A lawsuit filed against the Deparment of the Interior regarding the Spokane Tribe’s US$400 million casino complex has been unanimously approved.

US.- The three Spokane County commissioners have unanimously voted Tuesday to carry on with the lawsuit filed to block the Spokane Tribe’s casino complex in Airway Heights. The litigation was filed by the Kalispel Tribe against the US Department of the Interior over its approval of the new US$400 million venue.

The Kalispel Tribe claims that the new casino will hurt the tribe’s Northern Quest Casino that’s located just 3.2 kilometers (nearly two miles) away from the new site.

Carol Evans, Spokane Tribe’s chairwoman, said Wednesday that she’s “saddened by a potential lawsuit” but that construction will continue on the casino anyway. She highlighted the fact that the tribe spent nearly a decade working to win federal permission to build the off-reservation casino that’s being criticised. She also projected that the complex will bring thousands of jobs for the tribe.

The casino complex is the second off-reservation Indian Casino approved in the state and has been accepted by Governor Jay Inslee. The other casino, the Northen Quest, belongs to no other than the Kalispels.

The Kalispel Tribe said in the lawsuit that the Spokane Tribe Casino “will have a devastating impact on Northern Quest, which funds nearly all of the Kalispel Tribe’s government operations” and argued that federal law requires the Interior secretary to consider the detrimental impacts of a new casino on nearby Indian tribes. However, the Spokanes stated that they’re only trying to avoid fair competition.