Casino news source: Sun Herald - http://www.sunherald.com/
Bills seek to check tribal casino expansion
By TOM WILEMON
tewilemon@sunherald.com
BILOXI - Two bills introduced this legislative session would put more checks and balances on the expansion of tribal casinos in Mississippi.
Plans by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians to put a casino in a county in which gambling is illegal spurred the legislation. The bills would add one more hurdle to what opponents call "reservation shopping," by which the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs allows tribes to open casinos beyond historic reservation lands.
The two casinos the Choctaws currently operate are on their historic reservation near Philadelphia. The tribe has asked the federal agency to allow it to open a third casino in Jackson County, where it owns and operates a printing plant.
Tribes must negotiate compacts with governors for there to be Vegas-style slots. One bill also would require the approval of a special legislative subcommittee. The other would require the approval of the Mississippi Gaming Commission as well as the subcommittee.
The bills have the support of the state's largest religious denomination.
"Basically, it's just another safety on the gun," said Lee Yancey, senior consultant with the Christian Action Commission of the Mississippi Baptist Convention. "It's just another way to prevent the reservation shopping that has become so prevalent in our country."
Yancey acknowledged Gov. Haley Barbour has gone on record as being opposed to the expansion of gambling into Jackson County.
"The fear for those of us who don't want a casino in Jackson County is there might be a governor who would concur," Yancey said.
The tribe has begun preparing an environmental-impact statement for the land near Interstate 10 on which it would put a casino. It has asked the Jackson County Board of Supervisors to put their casino proposal before voters in a non-binding referendum that would coincide with the 2008 presidential election. Opponents of the casino, including a group of clergy from Jackson County, are considering asking supervisors to hold a referendum sooner. They believe the casino would be voted down.
The tribe has said it would abide by the wishes of Jackson County residents. |
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