Shawnee Plan Casino in Oklahoma City
The Shawnee Tribe has ambitious plans to bring a $400 million casino to the Oklahoma City area. The project is in the very early stages, and will require the approval of the Department of the Interior to put the 104-acre location into federal trust before the casino can be erected.
While many area residents hailed the potential to add as many as 1900 new permanent jobs to the region, some opponents voiced their greivances against the plan. Remington Park, the area's horsetrack, currently operates slots at its casino, and Remington Vice President Scott Wells estimated that losses to an Indian casino nearby could be "devastating" to the track.
Tribe representatives insisted that no deal which hurt Oklahoma City would be acceptable to the Shawnee. The possibility of revenue-sharing with both the city and the track was broached, and Shawnee officials seemed eager for an amicable settlement.
If the trust is granted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the casino complex would include a 400-room hotel with spa, banquet and convention facilities, an entertainment center with over 2000 seats, a 72-lane bowling alley, 70,000 squre feet of retail and restaurant space, and the casino, which would feature 75 table games and 2000 slot machines.
