From Gaming Today The Supreme Court will decide whether the Bay Mills Indian Community’s casino in Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula can be ordered closed by a judge. The high court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from state officials, who say they can order the casino to be closed because it is not on the tribe’s lands. A federal judge agreed and issued an injunction ordering the casino closed in 2011. The Vanderbilt casino opened in November 2010 and is located about 125 miles south of the Bay Mills reservation in the Upper Peninsula. The 6th Circuit Court of…

Professional poker player Phil Ivey is set to be the front man for a joint venture between the Pala Band of Mission Indians and former bwin.party CEO Jim Ryan, PokerFuse PRO has learned. The new entity, Pala Interactive, plans to offer online poker and casino games in California upon regulation within the state. And though the deal is currently limited to potential offerings in California, the agreement could be extended beyond the state at a later date. Pala Interactive is slated to use software provided by Realtime Edge Software (RTE), a company that lists bwin.party, GTECH, RocketFrog and ClubWPT among…

The Indian Gaming Special Distribution Fund awarded $140,772.33 to Mendocino County agencies this year. All eight applicants were awarded funds, according to David Grim of the Mendocino County Executive Office. “Historically most of the money goes to the fire districts,” Grim said. The Mendocino County Indian Gaming Local Community Benefit Committee determines how local money is distributed. The committee is comprised of officials from around Mendocino County. Willits City Councilmen Ron Orenstein and Larry Stranske are the two local representatives on the committee. “We’re very pleased that funds will go toward a variety of activities to assist communities affected by gaming,” said…

A compact that spells out the rules for a 305-acre tribal casino and resort project by the North Fork Mono Rancheria Indians along Highway 99 near Madera was approved Thursday by the California Senate. Senate support now leaves the governor, who already supports the tribal compact, and the U.S. Department of Interior in Washington, D.C., as the last two steps before groundbreaking near Highway 99 and Avenue 18. But lawsuits by some Madera residents, as well as several tribes, including the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians, also are looming. The Senate vote Thursday was 22-11. Station Casinos, a major Las…

A judge has taken the unusual step of ordering a sheriff to take money from an Indian casino till to pay a $725,000 settlement reached between the tribe and a former casino manager, a newspaper reported. Madera County Sheriff John Anderson has until the end of November to carry out county Judge Michael Jurkovich’s ruling against the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians — owners of the Chukchansi Gold Resort and Casino in the Sierra foothills near Yosemite National Park, according to The Fresno Bee. The newspaper reported over the weekend that a leadership dispute at the tribe has resulted…

A Tribal Gaming decision is headed before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has decided to hear Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette’s arguments against the opening of an Upper Peninsula Indian community’s casino in Vanderbilt. The high court this fall will review a federal appeals court ruling last summer that cleared the way for the Bay Mills Indian Community to go ahead with the Vanderbilt casino. The small northern Lower Peninsula town is about 100 miles from the Bay Mills Indian Community on Lake Superior north of Brimley and west of Sault Ste. Marie. “Today’s ruling sets the stage for an…