A casino-like gambling hall is being built on tribal land near Juneau’s Eaglecrest Ski Area.

Workers on Aug. 26 were performing roof work on the mostly completed exterior of a wood-frame building on a 20-acre Douglas Island parcel owned by the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.

In an email last month to Juneau public radio station KTOO, Tlingit and Haida spokesperson Dixie Hutchinson confirmed that the tribe is developing a gaming facility. According to Hutchinson, the plan “aligns with Tlingit and Haida’s broader mission to expand revenue-generating opportunities that support essential programs and services for tribal citizens.”

Hutchinson did not offer a timeline for when it will open to the public.

Reports show the tribe plans to operate what’s known as a Class II gaming establishment. Such locations can offer bingo, non-house-banked card games, pull-tabs, and slot-like machines where payouts come from a pool of competing players (much like a bingo pool). Games like poker, blackjack and traditional slot machines are not allowed.

It would be similar to the Southeast Winds Casino, a gaming operation in Metlakatla, on Alaska’s only Indian Reservation, which has operated for years with slot-machine-like games, bingo and pull-tabs.

The Douglas Island parcel is part of a 220-acre site owned by the heirs of an Angoon man who obtained the property in a land swap with the U.S. Forest Service in 2002. Tlingit and Haida has leased 20 of those acres since 2015.

Tlingit and Haida began clearing trees from the land in 2018 but never disclosed the purpose of the work.

The gaming facility took a big step forward in January of this year when the National Indian Gaming Commission authorized an amended gaming ordinance adopted by the Southeast Alaska tribe in October 2024. A key consideration of the commission was Tlingit and Haida demonstrating it exercises significant government authority, with the tribe submitting evidence of its education, law enforcement, emergency management and other operations to meet that standard.

The Jan. 17, 2025, authorization letter by the commission also notes potential amenities on the property based on the tribal council’s actions.

“The leased premises shall be used by the (tribe) for governmental administration, programs, services, regulatory functions, the promotion of tribal cultural heritage and economic development, including but not limited to the construction and operation of a Native-style lodge with a restaurant and gift shop, bingo, dining and entertainment that includes cultural performances and music, and the operation of governmental facilities and business enterprises under the governmental authority of the (tribe),” the commission’s letter states.

Tlingit and Haida has completed numerous development projects in Juneau and is proposing additional major projects such as a highly touted education campus. But plans for the gaming facility remained largely out of public view until the commission’s letter and construction work attracted notice during the past few weeks.

A similar gambling hall authorized by the commission for the Native Village of Eklutna is experiencing difficulties after opening in January. The state of Alaska in February filed a lawsuit to shut down the casino and Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration is asking President Donald Trump to overturn the federal commission’s ruling authorizing the facility.

The Dunleavy administration also previously legally challenged an effort by Tlingit and Haida to obtain “Indian country” sovereignty rights to a parcel of tribal land in downtown Juneau.

Tlingit and Haida’s planned gambling facility may join other major tourism facilities on north Douglas Island in the development stage. Goldbelt Inc., the urban Native corporation for Juneau, is planning to build a two-berth cruise ship dock — complete with visitor facilities — on land it owns on the west coast of the island by the 2028 cruise ship season.