A group of homeowners has filed a lawsuit against the Native Village of Eklutna over a casino planned near Anchorage. It would be the third tribal-owned casino in the state, following by more than a decade much smaller operations in Metlakatla and Klawock in Southeast Alaska.
The Eklutna gaming hall would be built on about eight acres of land, a few miles off the Glenn Highway, about 25 miles driving miles north of downtown Anchorage.
“There’s a lot of horses and dog mushing, and that kind of activity out here,” said Debbie Ossiander, who lives about a mile from the site. She is co-chair of the Birchwood Community Council and supports the lawsuit. She said the council worries that the tribe’s project will destroy the rural character of the area.
“People are fearful of what kind of a traffic impact that would engender. It would be a draw certainly,” Ossiander said. “People would drive from Anchorage and all over the valley to come to this locale.”
Similar to the smaller casinos in Metlakatla and Klawock, the Eklutna operation would have only electronic games, bingo and pull-tabs. There would be no table or card games.
Southeast Winds Casino, Wap Xsenm Haywaas, is owned by the Metlakatla Indian Community in the Annette Islands Indian Reserve, the only Native reservation in Alaska.
Casinos are illegal in Alaska, except on tribal lands approved by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The lawsuit, filed in December in federal court in Anchorage, also names Sharon Avery, the acting head of the federal National Indian Gaming Commission. Avery last year signed off on the tribe’s plans to build the project on a Native allotment leased from a family.
Ossiander said there are other big unknowns, like the impact of drainage from the casino’s parking lot into nearby Peter’s Creek, a salmon spawning stream. Ossiander said she’s also frustrated about the lack of information about the project.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of eight people who live in the neighborhood next to the proposed gaming hall. They are represented by attorney Don Mitchell, a longtime opponent of tribal powers in Alaska.
Mitchell would not comment for this story, but his lawsuit questions Eklutna’s tribal status as well as the existence of tribes in Alaska.
Aaron Leggett, president of the Native Village of Eklutna, said in a statement that the litigation is disappointing. He said Mitchell’s claim that there are no tribes in Alaska has repeatedly been rejected by the courts.
As for the complaints from neighboring landowners about the potential impacts, Leggett said the public will have a chance to comment on the project after a federal environmental review is completed.
The land in question is under federal control on a Native allotment awarded to a family in 1963. It’s also within the Eklutna tribe’s traditional territory.
In 2016, the tribe asked the U.S. Department of the Interior to make the property eligible for gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. In 2018, the department issued a decision against the tribe and concluded that the property did not constitute “Indian lands.”
That decision was reversed in 2024 following a new interpretation of the law from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s chief legal officer, who ruled that the Eklutna tribe has jurisdiction over the Native allotment land, which opened the door for the tribe to win approval from the National Indian Gaming Commission in July 2024.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs has not yet issued the final permit, pending an environmental assessment.
The lawsuit’s claims about the lack of tribal status in Alaska are ridiculous, said Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson, president of the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, the largest tribal organization in Alaska.
“When you attack tribes, you are attacking Alaska,” said Peterson, who called the lawsuit shortsighted. He believes the community will benefit in the long run from the gaming hall.
The Eklutna tribe may face opposition from another quarter. Gov. Mike Dunleavy recently put out a list of priorities in preparation for the incoming Trump administration. One of those calls for reversing the Interior Department’s 2024 decision to approve the proposed gaming hall.
Opponents of the project say Native allotments are not subject to state and local taxes and worry that they’ll have to shoulder the burden for paying for the potential impacts of the gaming hall, such as the need for increased public safety services and road upgrades. But supporters of the project say the tribe could be an ally in bringing more services and road improvements to the area.
The Eklutna Tribe has said there will be two phases of the project, which will be called the Chin’an Gaming Hall. Chin’an means “thank you” in the Dena’ina Athabascan language.
On its website, the tribe says it plans to open a 50,000-square-foot facility. It will start with 350 to 550 electronic gaming machines and expand to 700. There would also be a full-service restaurant with plans to eventually apply for a liquor license.
Marnell Companies, a Las Vegas based firm, will design, develop and manage the gaming hall.
The tribe said it will use revenues from the gaming hall for scholarships, housing, health care, and cultural programs.
The Sentinel contributed reporting for this story.
Reader Comments(0)