Two largest gaming tribes of Arizona have resigned from the state's gaming organization. The decision was taken over a dispute regarding a Glendale casino.
The Gila River Indian Community and Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community announced that, they are leaving the association and hand over a letter to the Arizona Indian Gaming Association.
The move comes after the Tohono O'odham Nation's actions of "secretly developing a casino in direct opposition to the promises made by AIGA." It has "destroyed AIGA's unity and undermined the principles of the organization," the two tribes claimed.
Delbert Ray, the president of the Salt Rive Pima-Maricopa, said in a statement that, "In recent days, AIGA’s leadership has failed to speak out on what we consider the most important issue before Arizona’s tribes the actions of the Tohono O’odham Nation to use deception and fraud to secretly obtain land, hide it in a shell corporation, and develop a new casino in Glendale, breaking the promises to other tribes, state officials and Arizona’s voters."
Stephen Roe Lewis, the governor of the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC) said that, the tribal council of community voted unanimously to end its relationship with AIGA over the issue of the Glendale casino. "Because AIGA has stood mute on this issue and because the organization can no longer speak with “one unified voice” our community has reluctantly decided to resign from AIGA," he said.
"The Arizona Indian Gaming Association respects the right of each sovereign government to act in the interest of their community," the group said.
"While our individual member tribes may have taken different positions on the West Valley resort, we as the Association continue to remain neutral on this issue," it added.
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