BISMARCK, N.D. — North Dakota’s top House Republican is proposing six state-owned casinos, a move that risks angering American Indian tribes at a time relations have already been rubbed raw by the dispute over the Dakota Access oil pipeline.
The only casinos in North Dakota are on the state’s five American Indian reservations, and those are central to the tribes’ economies. Some lawmakers say Fargo Rep. Al Carlson’s proposal to add six state-owned casinos is little more than a threat of payback for millions of dollars in law enforcement and other costs the state bore because of protests over the Dakota Access pipeline.
“It’s another direct consequence of the pipeline protests, no question,” Rep. Pam Anderson, a Democrat from Fargo, said Thursday.
Carlson said his idea is not “anti-American Indian,” but rather a way to establish casinos as “destination-oriented attractions” and use profits from them to lessen — or eliminate altogether — state sales tax and corporate income tax.
Many lawmakers believe the measure has little chance of passing, but they fear it’s further damaged the state’s relationship with its tribes.
While the state supported the four-state pipeline, some of its tribes led the protests against it and set up an encampment near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation that at times drew thousands of people from around the U.S. The Standing Rock Sioux and other tribes say the $3.8 billion pipeline threatens their drinking water and cultural sites — claims the pipeline developer disputes.
Patrick Packineau, general manager of the Four Bears Casino on the Fort Berthold Reservation, would not comment on any political motivations behind Carlson’s proposal, but he said North Dakota already has enough casinos.
“The state of North Dakota has a limited market, as far as gamblers,” he said. “Additional casinos would only cannibalize the market even further.”
The Fort Berthold Reservation also has oil that contributes to its economy, though Packineau said the casino is important to the reservation. North Dakota’s other reservations don’t have oil and rely heavily on casinos to provide jobs and revenue.
