\n Posted on: October 1, 2025, 05:30h.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
\n Last updated on: October 1, 2025, 05:30h.\n <\/p>\n
![\"Avatar](\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-50x50.png\")
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n- \n
- Interior reversal jeopardizes Alaska tribal casino projects\u2019 future.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Eklutna gaming hall stays open despite new legal opinion.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Tlingit & Haida vows sovereignty after setback in Juneau.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The US Interior Department last week quietly reversed a Biden administration legal opinion that allowed Alaska tribes to open casino-style gaming halls on Native allotment lands.<\/p>\n
![\"Alaska](\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/KATE-858x571.jpg\")
Deputy Interior Secretary Kate MacGregor, above, has reversed the Biden-era opinion that paved the way for Alaska tribes to operate class II gaming. (Image: US Interior Department)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The new opinion throws several tribal casino projects into uncertainty, including the Native Village of Eklutna\u2019s Chin\u2019an Gaming Hall<\/a> near Anchorage, which is already open.<\/p>\n
In a memo dated September 25, Deputy Interior Secretary Kate MacGregor wrote that a solicitor\u2019s opinion issued under the prior administration did \u201cnot reflect the best interpretation of applicable law\u201d and ordered the department and the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) to reevaluate decisions made under that analysis.<\/p>\n
Alaska\u2019s Different Legal Status<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The Eklutna tribe has been trying to get a modest bingo hall off the ground for years but was frustrated by laws that confer a different legal status on Alaska tribes than that of tribes in the rest of the US.<\/p>\n
The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) allows federally recognized tribes in the \u201cLower 48\u201d to run class II gaming operations, like electronic bingo halls, on their own lands without state approval, as long as comparable forms of gambling are permitted within that state.<\/p>\n
\nBut the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), enacted before IGRA, restructured Alaska\u2019s tribes into state-chartered corporations, effectively narrowing their status as sovereign governments, which impacts their right to offer gaming.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The Biden administration changed that. A November 2022 DOI legal opinion determined that ANCSA didn\u2019t prohibit the federal government from taking land into trust for Alaska Natives. This paved the way for the federal National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) to approve the casino.<\/p>\n
Since the policy rested on a legal opinion, rather than legislation passed by Congress, the Trump administration was able to rescind it with relative ease \u2014 a move Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) had urged.<\/a><\/p>\n
Potentially Devastating <\/strong><\/h2>\n
The reversal could be devastating \u2014 not just for the Eklutna but also for the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes who have also begun construction on a bingo hall near Juneau.<\/p>\n
Tlingit & Haida said in a statement that it was reviewing the new opinion but remained \u201ccommitted to exercising our Tribal sovereignty to preserve sovereignty, enhance economic and cultural resources and promote self-sufficiency and self-governance for Tribal citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAaron Leggett, President of the Native Village of Eklutna, said that its tribal gaming hall \u201cremains open for our guests and continues to provide meaningful benefits to our Tribe, the surrounding community, and our state.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Former Interior solicitor Bob Anderson, who issued the Biden-era opinion and now lives in Anchorage, told KNBA News that the new opinion was \u201cwrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been the law in the Lower 48 forever, and Alaska is part of the United States, and the same federal laws apply here, as they do everywhere else,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cSo, I\u2019m fairly confident that we\u2019ll continue to prevail on these questions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
- Eklutna gaming hall stays open despite new legal opinion.<\/strong><\/li>\n