Controversy escalates as decision nears on casino near Guymon
Controversy is churning in the Oklahoma Panhandle as the Shawnee Tribe edges closer to obtaining federal permission to build a 42,309-square-foot casino about 3.5 miles southwest of Guymon.
Casinos are often controversial, but plans for this casino are particularly controversial because it would be located in a place where the tribe lacks historical ties on land some 400 miles away from the Shawnee Tribe’s Miami headquarters in far northeastern Oklahoma.
In the past, the federal government has generally required tribes to build casinos on their own reservations or — in states like Oklahoma where tribes don’t have reservations — within their tribal jurisdictional areas.
“This would be a terrible precedent by the federal government to allow tribal gambling in lands where tribes have no historical ties,” said state Sen. Bryce Marlatt, R-Woodward. “This could open a floodgate of casinos and other tribal ventures on almost every corner in Oklahoma. This move is also concerning to citizens in the Panhandle because of the societal ills associated with the proliferation of gambling.”
Brent Gooden, speaking on behalf of the Shawnee Tribe, said the tribe’s situation is unique.
Unlike other Oklahoma tribes, the Shawnee Tribe was assigned no jurisdictional land of its own and operates within the territory of another tribal government, he said.
Recognizing that unique status, Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, successfully carried a bill called the Shawnee Act through Congress in 2000 that restored the tribe’s federal recognition and gave the tribe the right to secure land essential to its economic well-being as long as that land is outside the assigned lands of other Oklahoma tribes, Gooden said.
Such unassigned lands in Oklahoma include land in three counties in the Oklahoma Panhandle and some land within Oklahoma County, he said.
A dozen years ago, the tribe created a fur or in Oklahoma City when it tried to gain permission to build a casino in Bricktown. A couple years later, it shifted to trying to obtain authority to build an 18-story hotel and 2,000-machine casino along Interstate 35 between Britton Road and Wilshire Boulevard. Those efforts failed amidst political opposition.
In February 2015, the tribe publicly announced a new plan — the plan that is generating the current controversy.
That plan calls for building a $25 million casino called the Golden Mesa Casino that would feature about 600 electronic games, eight blackjack tables and a restaurant and bar on a little over 100 acres of property located on the south side of State Highway 54, about 3.5 miles southwest of downtown Guymon.
The plan calls for the tribe to partner with Global Gaming Solutions, the gaming arm of the Chickasaw Nation, with Global Gaming serving as the management company for the project, Gooden said.
“The new center will position Guymon and the entire Oklahoma Panhandle as an entertainment and tourist destination point, attracting visitors from Texas, Kansas, New Mexico and Colorado,” Ron Sparkman, chief of the Shawnee Tribe, said when the project was announced. “In addition to the inflow of money to the area from out-of-state visitors, the center is projected to create 175 new jobs with a total annual payroll of $3.7 million.”
Reaction in Guymon has been mixed.
Guymon Mayor Kim Peterson said when the city council first voted on whether to support the casino about a year ago the vote was split 2-2. A majority voted against the project when a second vote was taken later, he said.
“I think there’s ups and downs to it,” Peterson said. “I think there’s a potential for tourism and things like that, but I do think there’s going to be people who are going to probably abuse it, just like they abuse everything else . ... People are people. There’s people out there that drink too much, that eat too much, that smoke too much, and I suspect there’s people that gamble too much.”
Before the casino can be built, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs must first authorize the land to be put in trust.
One of the steps in that process was the completion of an environmental assessment.
The agency has announced that a November 2016 environmental assessment concluded the casino would “not have a significant impact on the quality of the human environment,” eliminating the need for an environmental impact statement. A public hearing on the environmental assessment took place Thursday evening in Guymon.
Sen. Marlatt said he’s convinced that the Obama administration is trying to fast track the project to get it pushed through as he prepares to leave office.
“I think it’s part of the administration, once again, making a midnight hour move to do what they want before leaving office,” Marlatt said. “I’m just saying let’s slow this thing down and let the new administration come in and evaluate it and see what their opinion is before we start assigning these lands and have casinos in areas that have historically no ties to the tribes.”
If such expansion is going to be allowed, Marlatt said it may be time to let entities other than Indian tribes operate casinos in Oklahoma.
“If we are going to expand gambling anywhere in the state, perhaps we should look at who the best operators of such facilities really are and whether they would agree to terms that would provide the state more revenue for critical needs like teacher pay,” Marlatt said.
In preparation for Thursday’s meeting, Chief Sparkman wrote an open letter to citizens of Guymon and Texas County in which he pledged that the tribe would be a good neighbor.
“Let me assure you, we stand ready to work with the communities and local governments on a shared vision to help build a stronger economy and better place in the Oklahoma Panhandle,” Sparkman stated. “We want to be your community partner and we will work to help citizens of the Panhandle improve their lives through thoughtful investments in the community organizations who share our commitment.”
The Shawnee Tribe is composed of about 2,500 members throughout the United States, with many residing in Oklahoma.