Shoshone-Paiute Take Step Toward Gambling Council Formed To Explore Potential On Last Casino-Free Reservation

The Shoshone-Paiute Tribes have taken the first step toward ending their Duck Valley Reservation’s distinction as the only one in Idaho without a casino.

Business Council Vice Chairman Dennis Smith informed Gov. Phil Batt on Wednesday that the council voted Tuesday night to create a five-member gaming commission to explore gambling possibilities on the reservation that straddles the Idaho-Nevada border.

Tim Wapato, executive director of the National Indian Gaming Association, was called in to help develop an operation. He was on the reservation with tribal leaders much of the day Wednesday after an hourlong meeting with Batt and state and federal officials at a Boise hotel.

Smith indicated that Nevada Sen. Harry Reid suggested the casino option during a conversation last week. He agreed with Reid’s assessment that there is little prospect for any other kind of economic development on the isolated high desert reservation that now relies on ranching and sport fishing at Wild Horse Reservoir.

Coupled with declining federal support through the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other programs, he said, “we have to start creating something else.

“It’s too bad we have to revert to gaming, but that’s where the dollars are,” Smith said.

The Duck Valley casino would benefit from tour buses running between Boise and Elko, Nev., casinos and from anglers and others using the reservoir, he said, but it would still merely augment revenues from existing enterprises.

Wapato told Batt that was the case with nearly all reservation casinos nationwide.

During the meeting that focused on health care and economic development, Batt praised the Shoshone-Paiutes over the other four tribes for having “made the most consistent effort to be economically independent outside of gaming.

“And I hope you will continue,” said the governor.

Despite some personal misgivings about a casino, however, other tribal leaders said alternatives are extremely limited and jobs need to be created immediately to deal with welfare reform that limits benefits for the poor.