State won't oppose casino's scheduled opening, officials say

While talks continued Wednesday on a compact between the state and Salt River Community, workers put the finishing touches on Casino Arizona - strategically located just a stone's throw from Scottsdale.

Housed in a white tent-like building, the casino will offer only poker for now. But as landscapers planted shrubs and cashiers and dealers received last-minute training, bulldozers scraped desert directly west of the casino for the next stage: a spacious hall filled with 500 jingling slot machines.

"The bottom line is jobs and opportunities and economic development for the Indian community," said Jon Jenkins, president and CEO of Casino Arizona.

Gov. Jane Hull hopes an agreement on a compact with the Salt River Community can be reached but she won't go to court to stop the casino from opening, Hull spokeswoman Francie Noyes said.

"The decision to open is theirs," Noyes said.

Arizona Department of Gaming spokesman Gibson McKay said the two sides were to meet again Thursday to discuss a compact, a legal requirement before Arizona tribes can offer gambling.

The sticking point in negotiations is what role the state would play in regulating Casino Arizona's poker games. Attorney General Grant Woods ruled last year that Indian-run poker is illegal, but eight of the state's 15 gaming tribes that offer poker continue to operate the games in defiance of Wood's opinion.

Arizona contends state law prohibits reservation poker unless it is subject to state regulation. However, the National Indian Gaming Commission, which oversees some aspects of Indian gambling operations under federal law, has said poker is not subject to state regulation.

"The state wants to come in and regulate us but it can't do that, not under federal gaming laws, but we want to get the state as involved as it can be," said tribal attorney Richard Wilks. "We want to follow our gaming laws. They are tougher than the state's own laws. If we aren't doing that, we want the state to help us do it."

State officials have long resisted negotiating a gambling compact with the Salt River Community. But Arizona was forced to the table in 1996 when voters passed an initiative requiring the governor to negotiate gambling compacts on request by any tribe still without one.

A key stumbling block was the Salt River Community's prime location: its western border abuts Scottsdale, and residents of Mesa, Tempe and other eastern suburbs will have easy access to Casino Arizona.

Former Gov. Fife Symington once suggested that any casino should be placed in the middle of the reservation so students at Arizona State University in Tempe wouldn't be tempted to gamble.

The tribe's effort to get a compact has been tied up in the state Supreme Court for months. Once one is issued, the Salt River Community will open a full-scale, 150,000-square-foot casino near the current poker hall.

Fears that a casino will adversely affect residents of Scottsdale and cities nearby are exaggerated, Casino Arizona and tribal officials say.

Assistant Manager Mark Preston noted that the Gila River and Fort McDowell casinos lie on the fringe of metropolitan Phoenix.

"Parts of Scottsdale are five minutes away from Fort McDowell," Preston said. "At Gila River, it's only a couple minutes to Ahwatukee."

Mike Crain of Scottsdale wasn't concerned about having a casino for a neighbor.

"I haven't heard of practically any problems at the Arizona casinos," he said. "I've never heard of a shooting or a mugging. It sounds like they've been fairly clean."

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