Lujan Approves Biggest U.S. Indian Casino

Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr. on Friday approved a Connecticut Indian tribe’s plan to open a casino. The ruling could lead to dozens of new Indian-run gaming houses across the country.

Lujan approved a 291-page agreement detailing the rules and regulations governing the casino and laying out the state’s power to regulate gambling. The casino, run by the Mashantucket Pequot Indian tribe in Ledyard, Conn., would be the largest in the nation run by an American Indian tribe.

Sixteen other Indian tribes in five states--California, Minnesota, Nevada, Nebraska and South Dakota--already have agreements to operate various gaming operations. And seven tribes in Michigan operate on casino revenues.

The Pequot casino would be the largest Indian-run gaming operation to date, drawing from the densely populated region between Hartford and New Haven, Conn.; Providence, R. I., and Boston.

A dozen tribes in Washington State are negotiating with the state government for gambling rights. And in Wisconsin, another dozen tribes are embroiled in a federal court case over their bid to open casinos. Several of the tribes are operating casinos now in defiance of a court order.