A casino in Mountain Home? Or two? Here’s what we know
Plans for casinos are in the works in Mountain Home.
Two Idaho American Indian tribal groups are interested in building gaming enterprises in the city in Elmore County.
One proposal comes from the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, based at the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. The tribes bought land outside of Mountain Home, in Elmore County, in January 2020, according to the Elmore County Assessor’s Office.
The 154.5 acre parcel is southeast of the city and just west of Interstate 84, within Mountain Home’s area of impact, which means the city is free to annex it.
The tribes have proposed a “casino with 2,000 electronic gaming machines; a 250-room hotel; six food and beverage venues; 15,000 square foot event center; eight-island bowling center; two movie theaters; a video arcade; horse racing track and a grandstand and an outdoor space,” according to an article published on a tribal news website.
The site would have 500,000 square feet and cost $311 million.
The article said the project was “conceptual,” “because we still haven’t had the blessing of the membership.”
The tribes have three casinos on the reservation in Eastern Idaho.
A spokesperson for the tribes, Randy’L Teton, told the Idaho Statesman on Aug. 23 that it was too soon to make an announcement about the project. Teton said the tribes are “proposing an economic project” on lands in Mountain Home.
A spokesperson for the city of Mountain Home, Betsy Hiddleston, told the Statesman that the tribes have done outreach in the city, asking residents if they would prefer a casino, events center, bowling alley or movie theater to be built on the property. But the tribes have not confirmed with the city what they want to build.
The casino plans were first reported by BoiseDev.
A second casino possibility
The second proposal comes from the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes, based at the Duck Valley Indian Reservation on the Idaho-Nevada state line. The tribes submitted a letter to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in early August about their intent to build a casino in Mountain Home, said Brian Mason, the tribal chairman.
Mason said the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes, which don’t have a casino on their remote reservation, have been working on a casino project since the 1990s.
In recent years, the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes have considered several proposed partners for a casino venture, including the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes.
The Shoshone-Bannock proposed a partnership that would apportion 40% of the interest in the project to the Shoshone-Paiutes. Mason said his tribes rejected that, wanting to have senior interest in a project.
“We’re currently the only tribe in the state of Idaho that does not have a gaming operation,” Mason told the Statesman.
Idaho has Native American casinos in Lewiston, Pocatello, Kamiah, and south of Coeur d’Alene, and on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. South of Twin Falls is a nontribal casino that includes table games just south of the Nevada border, in Jackpot.
The casinos in Idaho offer video gaming and bingo, not table games like blackjack, craps and poker.
Loosened restrictions in recent years allow tribes to build casinos on land further afield from their reservations.
The tribes have decided to partner with an outfit called JTC Gaming, which Mason said has built multiple other casinos in the U.S.
John Steiner, who runs JTC Gaming, told the Statesman by phone on Thursday that the company has optioned land owned by a family trust in Mountain Home, just across the highway from the Shoshone-Bannock property and near U.S. 20, which runs east toward the Wood River Valley.
Steiner has worked on developing casinos in California and is also a major wind energy developer in Southern Idaho, he said.
Mason called the Duck Valley Reservation the “most poverty-stricken land” in either Idaho or Nevada, saying that the economic benefit of a casino would help the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes greatly.
The tribes, which have about 2,300 members, bring in less than $1 million in revenue each year, and about 60% of people on the reservation are unemployed, Mason said. That’s largely because people who don’t work for the tribes or ranch don’t have many other options to find work. The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes are larger.
Mason also noted that the Shoshone-Paiutes have close ties to Mountain Home, as it’s the nearest city — 97 miles away — with the infrastructure for tribal members to buy goods and services.
For over 40 years, tribal members have been born at a hospital in Mountain Home, and elders have funeral arrangements and embalmings in the Elmore County seat.
“We’re literally a community that is cradle to grave in Mountain Home,” he said. “We are Mountain Home.”
Would two casinos conflict?
Mason said that tribes need to show aboriginal connections to lands outside of their reservations. Both the Shoshone-Paiute and Shoshone-Bannock can do that, he said, but Mason said his tribes’ connection to Mountain Home is stronger.
“We both have aboriginal rights, but who legitimately is doing business there as we speak?” he said.
“Fort Hall already has three casinos. They’re on the eastern side of the state, 200 miles away. We just think that we have more ties to Mountain Home than they do,” he said.
Mason said he isn’t upset with the Shoshone-Bannock, as the two tribes have close ties and family relations.
Members of both reservations are descended from some of the same tribes, which is why both share the name Shoshone, a tribe that has long lived in the Great Basin and other parts of the Mountain West. In the 19th century, Native American people were forcibly moved onto reservations by the U.S. government, and different bands of tribes were relocated to reservations often by chance, Mason said.
Mason said he would like the support of Mountain Home, and he plans to arrange discussions with the city.
“There is room for a gaming operation in Mountain Home,” he said. “I don’t know if there’s room for two, but there’s definitely room for a gaming operation.”
Steiner said, “My opinion is that one casino would probably be the best option.”
The Shoshone-Paiute had a “concept-based meeting” with the Mountain Home City Council early this year, and the city has not heard from either tribe in months, Hiddleston said. The discussion did not include renderings of a potential casino, but was rather informational.
“The city does not have a preference on what tribe builds here in Mountain Home,” Hiddeston said.
What’s next?
Both the Shoshone-Paiutes and Shoshone-Bannocks would also need approval from the governor, the city of Mountain Home and possibly the Elmore County commissioners.
As the prospective Shoshone-Paiute land is off the Duck Valley Reservation, it would first have to be put into trust by the tribe, Mason said. In July 2020, the Shoshone-Paiutes discussed the matter with Gov. Brad Little.
A spokesperson for the governor, Madison Hardy, said Little’s office has yet to receive a formal application.
“Governor Little will review and consider an application once received as required by law,” she said by email.
Reporter Angela Palermo contributed.
This story was originally published September 1, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
