Iowa AG challenges Ponca’s casino plans in Carter Lake
DES MOINES, Iowa — The state of Iowa is trying to halt construction of a tribal casino in Carter Lake, claiming the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska does not have authority under federal law to use the land for gambling.
The Iowa attorney general’s office said Friday the state will ask a federal judge in Des Moines to decide whether the National Indian Gaming Commission erred when it approved a gaming ordinance for the casino last year.
“The Ponca tribe previously had represented to the state of Iowa that their Carter Lake trust lands did not qualify as gaming-eligible restored lands,” according to a statement issued jointly by Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, Gov. Chet Culver and Dean Lerner, director of Iowa’s inspections and appeals department.
The attorney general’s office said the tribe intended to use the five-acre plot in western Iowa for a health clinic and had never mentioned building a casino.
The project is also being challenged by the Nebraska attorney general’s office, which claims the tribe is trying to build in Iowa because Nebraska does not allow casinos. Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning filed his challenge earlier this year in federal court in Iowa. He said in January the tribe “shouldn’t be able to circumvent voters’ wishes.”
That challenge has not been resolved.
Carter Lake is on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River, northeast of Omaha. Its land was originally on the river’s east side, but flooding and shifting in the late 1800s left Carter Lake on the west side, according to the city’s Web site. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1892 that the city still belonged to Iowa.
More than a century later, that ruling has opened the possibility for the Ponca tribe to open a casino on tribal lands in Iowa, where gambling is legal.
The commission ruled in December that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act allows for gambling on the land in Carter Lake. The Poncas announced their casino plans the next month.
A message left with the Ponca tribe was not immediately returned.
The Poncas have about 2,500 members in Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota.
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