Oglala Tribal Leadership meets with NIGC

Washington DC, February 8, 2007  –  Today, Oglala Sioux Tribal President John Yellow Bird Steele, together with Council Representative Chuck Jacobs, Environmental Protection Director Robert Pille and Natural Resource Director Michael Catches Enemy met with National Indian Gaming Commission Chairman Phil Hogen at NIGC Headquarters in Washington, DC.

President Steele and the tribal delegation briefed Chairman Hogen, who is also a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, on the progress being made on the new facility the Tribe is constructing for its Prairie Wind Casino on Highway 18 near Oglala, on the Pine Ridge Reservation.  The Tribal officials reported that the project is nearing completion, and that they are optimistic that the larger, state-of-the-art gaming facility will offer the Tribe’s gaming customers more inviting entertainment opportunities, and provide greater revenue and employment for the Tribe and its members.

The Tribal officials also expressed their concerns over what they view as a lack of progress in negotiating a new or revised compact with the State of South Dakota, which might provide additional gaming opportunities throughout the economically depressed Pine Ridge Reservation.

In their meeting with NIGC Chairman Phil Hogen, Tribal leaders discussed alternatives which may be available to Tribes that feel constrained by limitations on the extent of the compacted or Class III (casino) gaming which is permitted under existing arrangements.

The NIGC is an independent regulatory agency established within the Department of the Interior pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988.

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