Rolling the dice

WINDOW ROCK, Dec. 27, 2007

Navajo Nation leaders were expecting that 2006 would be the year of the casino.

But 2006 came and went and so has 2007. And while there's been a lot of talk about setting up the first Navajo casino, word now is that the earliest it may happen is June 2008.

When it comes to gaming, 2007 could be called the year the tribe stopped talking and started acting.

Eddie Lockett, hired in 2006 as the tribe's top gaming regulator, spent most of this year waiting for something to regulate.

Recently, however, his office has been called upon to do background checks on those nominated to the tribe's gaming oversight board and on people applying to work as enforcement officials under Lockett.

Soon those applying for jobs in the tribe's first casino will also need background checks.

First site

This year also saw resolution of several questions, including the site of the first casino, which will be at Church Rock, N.M., just east of Gallup.

The long-standing question of who would control gaming development, the chapters or the tribe's central government, also was resolved in favor of Window Rock.

Last year the Navajo Nation Council passed resolutions enabling gaming development by several chapters, but President Joe Shirley Jr. vetoed them on grounds that chapter control would violate federal law and increase the likelihood that chapters would have competing casinos and none would make money.

The council failed to override the vetoes this year and issue was settled, with chapters playing an advisory role and the tribal government taking the lead.

Once that was settled, the council passed resolutions setting up a gaming regulatory commission and Shirley convinced veteran gaming attorney Bob Winter to come out of retirement and take charge of casino development.

The first question Winter faced was, when would the first casino open its doors?

He refused to give a time frame, saying it would depend on how soon the tribe set up its gaming oversight board and lined up the financing. Once those two things were done, the first casino could be up and running within about seven months, he said.

Line of credit

By November, the council had confirmed Shirley's gaming board appointments and his financing strategy. JPMorgan Chase Bank would extend a $100 million line of credit to the tribe, enough money to launch the gaming venture.

The tribe could tap the line of credit for construction loans to build a temporary casino, which would enable gaming revenues to start flowing. That would provide a source to repay the initial loans while the tribe built a permanent casino and started development on a second casino site.

Shirley picked the site in the Church Rock Chapter for the first casino based on feasibility studies that indicated that a casino along Interstate 40 was a prime location.

Shirley also announced plans to start work on a second casino somewhere east of Flagstaff.

The line of credit agreement, however, has generated a great deal of debate and as the year ended, a group of Navajos had announced plans to go to court to stop it. The Shirley administration, meanwhile, believes the lawsuit will fail and is proceeding with plans to open the Church Rock casino this summer.

In the next few weeks, the tribe is expected to start accepting applications from people who want one of the 100 or so jobs in the casino, which includes dealers, managers and support staff.

Construction on the temporary facility is expected to begin by February and within a couple of months of that, the gaming board is expected to announce the site for the permanent structure.

Winter said three spots are under consideration. If everything goes as planned that casino should be up and running by 2010, he said.

Non-Indians targeted

Tribal officials continue to stress that the Interstate 40 casinos, as well as any others that are built by the tribe, will target non-Indians although it is obvious from casinos run by the Utes and the Acomas that there is a large number of Navajos who frequent the casinos regularly.

The Navajo Nation wants this business as well but Winter and Shirley both said during the year that steps will be taken to make sure that tribal members do not get over their heads when the casinos finally open up.

This was one of the main reasons why elderly Navajos voted against gaming when it came up for a referendum vote in the 1990s - the fear that gaming would become as addictive as alcohol.

Toll-free numbers will be displayed prominently at all of the tribal casinos that will give both tribal members and non-tribal members counseling if they fear they need help.

The tribe is also toying with the idea of using player cards - which would be used instead of cash or tokens - to track how much is spent.

Most tribal casinos now do this as a way to determine who their best customers are so they can provide incentives but the tribe could also use the cards to gauge if someone is spending more than they can afford, if they wanted to.

Shirley said that during his tenure in office - he has three more years - the tribe will also develop casinos in other areas of the reservation, as funds become available.

Other sites

Two other key sites being studied by the tribe are Antelope Point on Lake Powell and the Shiprock area.

While the LeChee Chapter at first was reluctant to support a casino in their area, in the past year sentiment has changed and more and more chapter members are supporting a casino at Antelope Point because of the jobs it will bring to the area.

Officials for the Antelope Point Marina, who have declined so far to take a position on gaming, have admitted that a casino on the property would greatly increase the number of tourist who visit the marina.

As for the Shiprock area, discussions have been not if there will be one but where it will be located since several local chapters have gone on record as wanting to be the site of the northern casino.

Shiprock, with its size and proximity to Farmington, seems to be favored but other chapters west and south of Shiprock continue to lobby the council for a piece of the casino pie.