On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs’ passed the Keep the Promise Act of 2015, legislation that would effectively block the Tohono O’odham Nation from opening an Indian casino in Glendale, Arizona.
In March, the House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee, on a bipartisan voice vote, passed H.R. 308, the House version of Keep The Promise Act of 2015. The bill would prevent Arizona’s Indian tribes from opening casinos on land newly put into trust until after the expiration of the state’s voter-approved gaming compacts in 2027.
According to Rep. Trent Franks, the Act “will keep the promise” agreed to in 2002 by tribes and hundreds of thousands of Arizona voters, will prevent the opening of the Tohono O’odham Nation’s Glendale casino, currently under construction in the middle of a neighborhood near homes, schools and houses of worship.
Without passage of H.R. 308, according to Franks, the Nation could well open not only a Glendale casino, but three more casino locations on county islands around Maricopa County. Such openings could pave the way to the Arizona Legislature allowing off-reservation casinos, causing an explosion of tribal and non-tribal gaming statewide.