The Seneca Nation of Indians has landed some powerful support in its effort to keep the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino open and to reverse an earlier order to close the downtown gaming facility. Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, Erie County Executive Chris Collins and Robert Williams, a top official with the New York State Bureau of Gaming Operations, all filed supporting affidavits as part of the Seneca Nation’s legal brief that opposes the closing of the interim casino.

Sacramento County court judges ruled that voters should decide the fate of four newly approved gambling agreements between the state and four Southern California American Indian tribes. The Morongo Band of Mission Indians near Banning and the Pechanga Band of Mission Indians near Temecula filed separate lawsuits to stop the voter referenda against the agreements.

Valley View Casino officials announced this week they have formed a new business venture to develop and manage other casinos, putting it in the presence of larger, more established gambling companies. Tribal leaders with the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, which owns Valley View Casino, said they wanted to take advantage of the management talent that has helped develop their casino and share the knowledge with other tribes.

Tucson - Fourteen years and hundreds of millions of dollars later, tribal casinos in Tucson have not met federal and state requirements to lift American Indians out of poverty and reduce their dependence on taxpayer money. This despite the fact that this is what federal and state compacts that legalized Indian casinos called for. The Pascua Yaqui government since 1997 has more than doubled its per-person spending of federal dollars, and aid to the Tohono O'odham Nation has been up nearly 10 percent in that time.

Buffalo, New York (AP) - The Seneca Nation of Indians on Wednesday unveiled plans for a USD 333 million casino and hotel in Buffalo _ its third in western New York. Called Seneca Buffalo Creek, the project includes a 22-story hotel tower, a 90,000-square-foot casino and a 2,500-space parking garage on a nine-acre site in downtown Buffalo. The casino and hotel complex, thought to be the most expensive private structure ever built in the city, is slated to open in 2010.

The Kewadin Shores Casino in St. Ignace can finally welcome gamblers, at least until a lawsuit is resolved over whether the casino can exist on land that's ineligible for Indian gaming. U.S. District Court Judge Allan Edgar of the Western District of Michigan has issued an order allowing the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians to open the casino until the court renders a decision in the suit. The tribe has sued the National Indian Gaming Commission and the U.S. Department of Interior to allow the opening of the casino, which is located 10 minutes from the Mackinac Bridge.

Alpine, California (AP) - The Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians said it plans to build an USD 800 million casino-hotel resort just east of its existing 2,500-slot casino and outlet mall. The new resort 35 miles from downtown San Diego would feature 2,500 slots, a 600-room hotel, a pool, a spa, shops, restaurants, a conference center, a multiplex movie theater, two parking structures and a new power plant. The tribe, which unveiled its plan Thursday, hopes to complete construction in five years.

The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians along with two other tribes reached the end of a campaign to expand their tribal casinos when the governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed bills ratifying revised gambling agreements. The four bills signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will allow the Agua Caliente and Morongo tribes alone to add up to 8,500 new slot machines.

Sacramento - Labor unions Wednesday attacked a renegotiated gaming agreement with the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians near Temecula, alleging that the deal, known as a compact, lacks protections for casino workers. A short while later, though, union leaders urged support for a nearly identical compact with the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians near Highland.

The Seneca Nation of Indians President Maurice John Sr. said Friday the nation will respond to a subpoena from the National Indian Gaming Commission that is seeking records about how gambling revenues are spent. The records were subpoenaed as part of an investigation that involves the Seneca Nation of Indians and the “use of gambling revenues,” said Shawn Pensoneau, a spokesman for the commission. Pensoneau declined to detail what the commission is investigating, but said the scope of the probe is beyond routine audits the federal agency typically conducts.