As reported by Biloxi Sun-Herald: "A top official with the Department of the Interior has notified Indian tribes that the agency is reconsidering how it handles applications for off-reservation casinos because of public opposition to the expansion of gambling.

"James E. Cason, associate deputy Secretary of the Interior, said the agency 'anticipates changes to the rules that may result in fewer off-reservation properties being accepted to trust' in letters mailed to tribes that are seeking casinos.

"…The policy change could make it more difficult for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians to open a proposed casino in Jackson County, where gambling is illegal. The Ocean Springs Board of Aldermen has officially gone on record as being opposed to the casino. The proposed casino site is about 200 miles from the Choctaw reservation.

"Barb Lindsay, the national director of One Nation United, a group opposed to the expansion of tribal casinos outside of historic reservation lands, said the policy shift is 'true progress.'

"…Dennis Puzz Jr., a member of the Yurok Tribe and lawyer in Best & Flanagan LLP's Native American Law Section, said there is a tremendous backlog of applications in the pipeline because tribes were trying to beat the implementation of a new law that Congress was considering last year. Although no such law was passed, the move did spur the Department of Interior to review its regulations for tribal casinos…"

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