Kialegees Scrap Broken Arrow Casino Plans For Sports Bar

Plans have changed for a proposed casino site in Broken Arrow.

Developers are now saying they want to build a sports bar and live entertainment venue.

The developers have taken two serious blows to the casino project, so they're telling the court they no longer plan to have gambling, but the tribe is still asking that gaming be allowed on the property.

Construction in Broken Arrow began just before Christmas.

The Kialegee Tribal Town originally planned to build the Red Clay Casino there.

But a federal judge and the National Indian Gaming Commission put a stop to the project.

The developers are back before the judge asking for the injunction to be lifted because their plans have changed.

The attorney for the developers said they no longer plan to have gaming and only want to open the sports bar and a place for live entertainment.

The sisters who own the land, Marcella Giles and Wynema Caps, are now official members of the Kialegee Tribal Town.

Kialegees are members of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation so for them to be citizens...that's their call and I respect that," Muscogee (Creek) Nation Chief George Tiger said.

George Tiger is principal chief of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

Giles and Caps received the land through inheritance It was an original alloted land to a member of the Creek Nation in the early 1900s.

The Creeks have not said one way or the other whether they support a casino on the site, and Chief Tiger only had this to say when informed of the change of plans.

"That's something that certainly as individuals, as family, that's something they needed to do," he said. "I really can't comment on it, that's a personal thing with them, and we wish them best of luck.

In addition to the request for the injunction to be lifted, the chief, or Mekko, of the Kialegee Tribal Town sent a letter to the NIGC asking it to reconsider and rule that gaming can be allowed on the land.

Tiger Hobia calls the agency's ruling against the Kialegee's offensive to all Creek Indians.

He says now that the land owners are Kialegee's the land should be made available for gaming.

The attorney for the developers says he had nothing to do with the Mekko's letter to the NIGC.

But he does admit that if the federal government should change its ruling, the developers would be open to including gaming.

The state has until June 23rd to reply for the injunction to be lifted.