Tribal executive director Lindy Waters wrote in court filings: The tribes feel that a fifth casino will have a negative impact on their economic viability. Two Kiowa casinos are within 20 miles of the new casino while there are a further two Comanche casinos just 30 miles distant. However, federal regulators have already given verbal assurances that the casino will be approved with the tribe planning to open it in the coming days.
The Kiowa and Comanche nations contend that although the Fort Sill Apache tribe’s descendants were forced to the area as prisoners of war, the tribe has no sovereignty over the land. This is because the land where the casino is located happens to be land that was promised to the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache tribes in an 1867 treaty. This is the latest episode in an extremely long dispute over Fort Sill Apache tribe’s gaming rights in southwest Oklahoma.
Interior Department and Fort Sill Apache leaders over the tribe’s plans to open a second casino.Īccording to local news reports, a federal judge will hear the tribes’ arguments before deciding whether or not to place a temporary injunction on the Warm Springs Casino which would prevent it from opening to the public throughout the duration of the lawsuit. Oklahoma’s Kiowa and Comanche nations have filed legal proceedings against both the U.S.
