SLOTS IN CARDS FOR VINEYARD
Tribe wins casino appeal
The Wampanoags of Martha’s Vineyard are “simply thrilled” with an appeals court decision backing the tribe’s push to convert an unused community center into a slots parlor, their tribal chairwoman said.
The ruling this week from the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals resurrected the tribe’s gaming aspirations by overturning a 2015 federal court ruling that sided with the state and the town of Aquinnah blocking the casino. The appeals court found the tribe does have a right to use its lands for a casino.
“We are simply thrilled with the 1st Circuit Appellate Court’s decision,” Chairwoman Cheryl Andrews-Maltais of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head said, adding she hoped it would “put to rest the challenges to our inherent rights so that we can all stop expending valuable human and financial resources and begin an era of true government-to-government cooperation.”
The tribe said it is reviewing its options in light of the ruling.
The tribe has wanted to develop a community center into a 9,000-square-foot slots parlor that would have 300 slot machines, employ 130 people at peak times in the year and rake in $4.5 million for the Wampanoag. For comparison, the casino floor of the Wynn Boston Harbor under development will be 200,000 square feet and is expected to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Aquinnah Board of Selectmen will meet tomorrow to discuss the ruling and consider its next steps.
Board Chairwoman Julianne Vanderhoop told the Herald she is “worried about the town if this were ever to go through. We don’t have the infrastructure to support that size of facility here. It’s not in the budget.”
Vanderhoop, also a Wampanoag member, added: “It’s great for the recognition that we are once again a sovereign tribe. I hope that the tribe will look for other business opportunities here.”
Wampanoag efforts to open a casino date back to the 1990s, but were revived when Gov. Deval Patrick signed a 2011 law approving casino development in Massachusetts. The tribe then explored gaining a casino license from the state, but dropped that effort when the National Indian Gaming Commission ruled the tribe already had a right to operate a casino on its Vineyard settlement lands.
The tribe told the state in 2013 it planned to build a casino on its tribal lands, converting an unused community center into an electronic bingo hall.
Attorney General Martha Coakley sued the Wampanoag, saying the tribe’s proposal put it in breach of its 1987 agreement with the commonwealth. The U.S. District Court in Boston agreed with the state in a November 2015 ruling that found the settlement lands did not qualify the tribe for developing a casino under the federal gaming laws. The appeals court disagreed, ruling Monday the settlement lands qualify under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
A spokeswoman for Healey, who opposed the slots parlor, said her office is reviewing the decision.