The Prairie Band's proposal would place the electronic bingo hall about 500 miles from the tribe's reservation in Mayetta, Kan., one of the longest distances between a reservation and its casino in the U.S. Since then, the number of applications for tribes looking to place casinos off reservations has grown substantially, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs has approved more applications. The change, made after consulting with tribal leaders from all over the U.S., created new guidelines that make no specific reference to the allowable distance between a reservation and the location of a tribe's casino. In June of that year, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk scrapped an earlier guideline that allowed tribes to establish gambling facilities within 'commutable distance' of the reservation, generally considered about 40 miles.
Opponents also point to an Illinois attorney general opinion from 2007 that the tribe lacks a valid claim to build and operate a casino on the land.Īnother issue stems from a 2011 federal policy change on where tribes can place casinos.
A group opposing the bingo hall says the land was not formally considered a reservation, merely given to Chief Shab-eh-nay for his personal use, and that the chief voluntarily abandoned and tried to sell it.
