Card Gambling and Casino Site in Grand Forks
The leader of a poverty- ridden North Dakota Native American tribe claims that the state owes his tribe the permission to set up a casino and card gambling site in Grand Forks.
Ken Davis, the chairman of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, said that it is the state’s obligation to allow his tribe to build a card gambling and casino site in the southern part of Grand Forks.
The Turtle Mountain Band already has a card gambling and casino center on its reservation, which is in Belcourt, near the Canadian border. However, the gambling site is not as profitable as one in Grand Forks would be, given its lack of proximity to major highways.
Usually, Native American tribes are allowed to build casinos on tribal lands only. However, Chairman Davis claims that, in fact, Grand Forks is part of his tribe’s traditional lands. His tribe, he said, only gave up the land in and around Grand Forks because the U.S. government coerced a former leader of the tribe, Chief Red Bear, into signing an unfair treaty.
“We have a legitimate right to be in Grand Forks,” Davis said.
Jerry Hielden of Grand Forks has led the effort to stop a Turtle Mountain tribal card gambling and casino site from being built in that city. He believes that such a center would bring a variety of social problems to the city.
Tags: casino center, gambling site
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