News Summary

MONROE — Monroe City Council and its administrators are trying to determine what the Eastern Shawnee Tribe has to do to locate a casino in the community.

The tribe has approached the city to amend its agreement to change locations of a proposed casino. The group has apparently entered into an option for a 123-acre parcel in Turtle Creek Twp. in Warren County. This voids the previous agreement.

The tribe has two options available to it to try and bring casino gambling to Monroe: it can either seek a land claim or trust, according to University of Dayton law professor Blake Watson.

The West Seneca, Okla., tribe can gamble on land that the federal government places in trust if that land is part of a settlement of a land claim, said Watson, who specializes in property and federal Indian law.

"That requires them to file (a) lawsuit, settle a land claim, go to the feds and say, 'this land was part of a settlement and we would like it to be placed into trust," he said of the option he considers the least viable.

Watson said the Shawnee also can buy a piece of property or have an option on a piece of property in Monroe, but the tribe cannot gamble on it unless it gets the federal government to place it into trust.

"The problem that they're running into is the federal law is more restrictive with respect to land acquired after the (Indian Gaming Regulatory) Act was passed — in 1988 —and the federal government is more restrictive in terms of its regulations when the land is not located on the reservation or for that matter in the same state," Watson said.

The regulatory act also includes a provision in it that states that if you buy land and you ask the federal government to place it into trust, the government will not place it into trust if the governor of the state objects, he said.

"So if it's not tied to a land claim the governor basically has a veto," he said.

Watson said with federal and state governments having to sign off on the issue, that's why he feels that the odds are "extremely slim" that casino gambling will ever come to Monroe.

"It's not impossible, but there's quite a few obstacles out there," he said.

In 2005, Monroe voters approved a measure allowing the city to proceed with an agreement with the Shawnee that would share between $17 million and $53 million in electronic gaming revenue with the city for a casino complex near the Corridor 75 Park.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2595 or dewilson@coxohio.com.