Tohono O’odham win again; Union tackles REIT craze

Forces opposed to the Tohono O’odham Nation‘s attempts to build a casino (due to open Dec. 20) suffered yet another defeat — the Tohono casino18th, by the tribe’s count — when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out a particularly odious piece of Arizona legislation. HB 2534 would have empowered Glendale to annex the Tohono O’odham‘s adjoining land and confiscate the casino. It’s amazing how little the establishment’s mentality toward Native Americans has changed since the 19th century.

Acting on permission from Congress under the 1986 Gila Bend Indian Reservation Lands Replacement Act, the tribe bought 135 acres of unincorporated Maricopa County land. HB 2534 would have allowed the state to claw back 54 acres, including — how conveniently! — the casino site, preventing it from being declared reservation land. “Under the circumstances of this case, HB 2534 stands as a clear and manifest obstacle to the purpose of the act,” wrote Judge Milan Smith for the court. Glendale has long since embraced the casino project but Arizona may attempt to keep litigating at the Supreme Court level. There’s also the insidious “Keep the Promise” Act, currently tied up in a U.S. Senate committee. Let’s hope it stays there.

* Gaming & Leisure Properties‘ absorption of Pinnacle Entertainment into its REIT hit a snag in Indiana after clearing a similar hurdle in Mississippi. Union Unite-Here argues that the combination of Penn National Gaming‘s Hollywood Casino Lawrenceburg (already GLPI’d) with Pinnacle’s Ameristar East Chicago and Belterra exceeds the state’s two-casinos-per-company limit. To try and circumvent this, GLPI has obtained a “supplier’s licence,” even though it is a landlord, not a supplier.

“Unite Here is simply trying to manufacture obstacles with complete disregard for the facts or clear interpretation of applicable law,” Bill Cliffordresponded GLPI CFO William Clifford. And the union has an ongoing beef with Pinnacle at Ameristar East Chicago, where it is in a contract wrangle. However, as the Pinnacle-to-GLPI transfer process moves on to other states (Missouri in particular), the logic of Unite-Here’s anti-oligopoly position will become clear. As the union says, “Given its level of control, licensing GLPI as a supplier is not just an absurdity. It also sets a dangerous precedent just as other national gaming companies are considering creating their own REITs and leasing their properties to captive or third-party operators.”

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