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Connecticut Chief: Casino Site is Ours

"The chief said `everybody and their brother" has shown interest in opening a gaming facility in Bridgeport, a casino-friendly city that is close to New York City on Interstate 95. But he said his tribe has the exclusive rights to that territory.

"The Paugussetts, who are hoping to turn around the Bureau of Indian Affairs' preliminary negative decision on their petition for federal recognition, signed a one-year casino contract with Bridgeport in December. The city agreed to turn over property for a reservation and casino in exchange for a 10 percent cut of the slot machine profits and release of existing land claims.

"Connecticut's two gaming tribes, the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans, and the handful of Indian groups looking to get into the big-money business, are watching developments related to where the state's next casino might be located.

"…In recent months, Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton has raised questions about the legality of off-reservation Indian gaming, saying the intent of the federal act that enabled Indian casinos was for tribes to offer games of chance on their reservations.

"…The Paugussetts' venture in Bridgeport, which is contingent on the tribe receiving federal recognition, would not be considered `off-reservation,' Quiet Hawk said, since Bridgeport was part of the tribe's aboriginal territory. The tribe claims the state sold off hundreds of thousands of acres of its land in violation of the federal Non-Intercourse Act of 1790, which requires consent of Congress before Indian lands can be sold…"

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