WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A federal magistrate judge has allowed Kansas to join the fight over the Wyandotte Nation’s claim to Park City land where the tribe wants to build a casino.
U.S. Magistrate Judge David Waxse ruled on Thursday that the state has a strong interest in exercising its sovereignty over the tract the tribe wants to take into trust.
The state sought to intervene in the lawsuit to protect its taxing, regulatory and economic interests.
Peninsula Gaming has opened a casino in south-central Kansas just 25 miles from the land where the tribe wants to put one.
The Wyandotte Nation lawsuit is seeking to force the Interior Department to accept into trust the Park City land the tribe bought in 1992.