Gallup, New Mexico - Eldon Etsitty deals blackjack hands to a half-dozen players, then corrects one trying to double down improperly. "It's my table," he says in answer to a questioning look. Cards flash. Chips clatter. Etsitty turns up a winning card for himself, and the players groan. "They're feelin' it," he says, laughing. "Oh, they're feelin' it." The players laugh, too, because this is only a mock game created for casino trainees.

The Navajo Nation on Monday signed an agreement under which it will lease the rights to more than 1,000 slot machines to three gaming tribes near Phoenix and Tucson. The deal, also signed by the Gila River Indian Community outside Phoenix and Chandler, the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, north of Fountain Hills, and the Tohono O'odham Nation, near Tucson, is expected to generate more than USD 100,000 for the Navajos over several years.

The Navajo Nation is getting into the gambling business. The Window Rock tribe plans to build its first casino in Church Rock, N.M. Construction is expected to begin in April and the casino is slated to open in mid-October, tribal leaders announced Thursday. To fund the project, the Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise is expected to receive a USD 35 million loan fronted by the tribe's Land Acquisition Trust Fund. Fast track construction is planned where phases are managed and awarded throughout the construction schedule rather than upfront.

Nearly two decades after the legalization of Indian gaming, the Navajo Nation is scrambling to join the industry. Time and financial strategy are of the essence, said Robert Winter, CEO of the Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise, during a recent gaming forum at San Juan Community College. As the Nation moves forward with construction of its first casino near Church Rock on Interstate 40, time and financial strategy are of the essence, said Robert Winter.