Tribe fights for gaming license

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians has decided to fight for the gaming license.

US.- An official announcement released by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians states that the native organisation will take the fight for a gaming license to the legal system. The tribe is currently aiming at building a casino near downtown Lansing, although authorities have refused to concede the permission.

The tribal casino would be located at Lansing Center on East Michigan Avenue. However, in spite of the native organisation’s attempts of building the gaming venue, the federal government has constantly disapproved the plans. Although the tribe has owned the land since 2012, the U.S. Interior Department denied the tribe’s request to take the land into trust, an important step necessary to open the casino through tribal gaming laws, as explained by Lansing State Journal.

“We are continuing to work with our legal counsel to make sure we have pursued every available option,” John Wernet, the tribe’s general counsel, revealed, ”but it seems likely that a lawsuit will be necessary to vindicate the Tribe’s clear statutory right to have these lands placed in mandatory trust status.”

Furthermore, he added “this matter is of vital importance to the Tribe and we intend to move expeditiously … we continue to be very confident that we will prevail.”