Casino will go ahead

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The chief of the cash-strapped Roseau River band in southern Manitoba won't say when a proposed casino on his reserve will open but promises it will go ahead despite stiff provincial opposition.

"We are fighting a battle like Custer going into Wounded Knee. But we are going to win this one," Lawrence Henry said.

"We could become self-sufficient. Not just from the gaming but from investments as well."

Revealing plans at this time would be tipping the band's hand, Henry said. But full business plans and casino standards are being finalized and residents are ready to "test the case shortly."

The province has promised to block additions to the 30-slot-machine operation in the back of the community hall. Although band officials have warned of armed stand-offs in the face of a potential police raid, provincial officials have ruled out actions that could lead to violence.

"The whole notion of spilling blood over bingo and slot machines is abhorrent," Stu Whitley, a senior official with the attorney general, told Winnipeg-based reporters.

"That's not going to happen. There are other options at our disposal. We have a plan, but I wouldn't tip my hand. It won't involve putting people at risk."

A government-run casino and lotteries earned $72 million for the Manitoba government last year. It recently announced plans to build two $15 million bingo palaces in Winnipeg and placed electronic slot machines in rural hotels.

A handful of first nation communities, including Roseau River, have been licensed to hold bingo and sell break-open ticket games. But officials say the government is not prepared to let communities scale up to casino operations.

That's a double standard for the reserve, where unemployment runs around 75 per cent and band finances are near bankrupt, Henry said.

And the potential profits of gaming are evident to the community, which, from its viewpoint 60 kilometres south of Winnipeg, can see the benefits of on-reserve gaming across the U.S. border.

There are 13 casinos in Minnesota which grossed $170 million last year. Another casino is expected to open in neighboring North Dakota and profits from gaming are expected to rise this year.

Bands in Canada should be allowed to take advantage of the same opportunities

if they want to, Henry said. The right to run on-reserve gaming houses is under a band's jurisdiction, not a province's, he said.