Interior reversal jeopardizes Alaska tribal casino projects’ future. Eklutna gaming hall stays open despite new legal opinion. Tlingit & Haida vows sovereignty after setback in Juneau. The US Interior Department last week quietly reversed a Biden administration legal opinion that allowed Alaska tribes to open casino-style gaming halls on Native allotment lands. Deputy Interior Secretary Kate MacGregor, above, has reversed the Biden-era opinion that paved the way for Alaska tribes to operate class II gaming. (Image: US Interior Department) The new opinion throws several tribal casino projects into uncertainty, including the Native Village of Eklutna’s Chin’an Gaming Hall near Anchorage, which is already open. In a memo dated September 25, Deputy Interior Secretary Kate MacGregor wrote that a solicitor’s opinion issued under the prior administration did “not reflect the best interpretation of applicable law” and ordered the department and the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) to reevaluate decisions made under that analysis. Alaska’s Different Legal Status The Eklutna tribe has…Read MoreCategory: Legal, Politics, Tribal Gaming, Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Alaska tribal casinos, Eklutna gaming hall, Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, Tlingit & Haida sovereigntySource: Casino.org