Oklahoma may add a new tribal casino
The local gaming operator Osage Nation is allegedly pushing for another casino in Oklahoma.
US.- The Oklahoma tribe Osage Nation has allegedly hired the Republican politician Steve Tilley to lobby for a new casino in the state. The native tribe currently operates seven casinos within the Oklahoma’s cities of Tulsa, Ponca City and Pawhuska and may have hired Tilley under a strategic plan to expand its gaming business.
According to Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, the new casino could be installed in Cuba, located on Interstate 44 about 80 miles southwest of St. Louis, in Kimberling City in southwest Missouri, or in the Lake of the Ozarks region in mid-Missouri.
However, the relationship between Tilley and the Osage Nation is being investigated by the Missouri Ethics Commission, as the tribe apparently wrote checks worth over US$52k to fund Republican Governor Eric Greitens’ inaugural festivities. Osage Nation Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear explained to the local newspaper that the money was granted to “establish good relationship” with the governor.
However, according to a filing dated August 15 with the Missouri Ethics Commission Tilley and two of his associates at Strategic Capitol Consulting firm, Tom Robbins and Shawn Rigger were hired to push for a tribal casino in Missouri.
Oklahoma currently features 131 Indian gaming facilities that employ approximately 28k people. Whilst 57 percent of employees at gambling facilities are not members of Indian tribes, the rest belong to native organisations.
