On March 20th, 2008, a casino collaboration with a pair of San Diego County Indian tribe appears to be in the wrong track after federal officials dismissed a gaming agreement that are needed to pushed the project. The gambling compact for the Ewiaapaayp tribe would have given permission to the six member American Indian tribe to construct a brand new casino facility on the Viejas reservation near the Alpine.
In exchange, Viejas would have to give some of the revenues. But top federal officials had warned from the beginning that the casino proposal appeared to be in direct conflict with the existing federal law, which does not allow Indian casino facilities to the areas managed by the casino-owning Indian tribe. As a direct result, the gaming compact of Ewiiaapaayp has been in questioned for more than 3 years as lawyers for both Indian tribes think of a legal solution but failing in that concept, federal law to fix the problem.
Without any prior warning, the Ewiiaapaayp tribe submitted its gaming compact before the Department of Interior just last week. It was dismissed a day later based on the reasons that the federal officials had announced from the beginning. It was not clear why the Ewiiapaayp tribe tried to get a federal decision even they know what can be the outcome.
The gambling compact was just one of the seven gambling compact that was given the go signal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to allow slot machines. The Ewiiaapayp's chief executive officer, Will Micklin would not comment on what cause the tribe to make that decision, which came after the death of tribal leader Harlan Pinto. Ewiaapaayp will be left to ponder on whether the Viejas was still interested in a casino collaboration after the Viejas announced their own casino plans worth $800 million last August.
04/07/2008 01:01 PM
Richard Kennedy