Dec 11, 2003 By Christine Haines 6 min read

Two federally recognized Indian tribes announced Wednesday that they have hired an international commercial real estate company to find potential gambling sites for them in Pennsylvania, but Brownsville is not on their list of preferred locations. The Delaware Tribe of Bartlesville, Okla., and the Delaware Nation of Anadarko, Okla., have asked the real estate firm Binswanger to look at sites in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Valley Forge and Lawrence County for possible Class II gaming, such as the electronic bingo Brownsville property owner Ernest Liggett has said is the first phase of development for a Brownsville casino.

Kevin Feeley, of Bellevue Communications, which is representing the tribes, said that despite prior contact between Liggett and the Delaware Tribe, the tribe has not been in contact with Liggett for some time and Liggett is not part of the Delaware Indians’ plans Feeley said that while several Pennsylvania property owners have contacted him since the announced land search, Liggett was not among them.

“There’s been no contact whatsoever. There hasn’t been any mention of Brownsville as a site,” Feeley said.

Feeley said Ohwista Ko:Wah, the American Indian-owned firm that has said it is purchasing Liggett’s Brownsville properties and will be working with a sovereign tribe to develop a casino, is also not involved with the current Delaware project.

Neither Liggett nor Phil Monture, president of Ohwista Ko:Wah, could be reached Wednesday evening for comment on how or if a tribal gaming operation in Pittsburgh would affect their plans for Class II gaming or a full casino in Brownsville.

The Delaware Indians have historic ties to both eastern and western Pennsylvania. The Delaware Tribe is considered a “restored” tribe, meaning that it had federal recognition at one time, then lost it, but subsequently regained federal status through administrative or congressional action. The tribal status of the Delaware Tribe was restored in 1996 and according to a news release prepared for the tribe, the law provides that any Pennsylvania land acquired by the Delaware Tribe and placed into trust will meet the definition of restored land and qualify as a gaming site because of the tribe’s historic connection to the state.

“There is little question that federal law will provide the Delaware Tribe with the right to conduct Class II gaming operations in the near future, regardless of the outcome of the current legislative debate in Harrisburg,” said Steve Cozen, the attorney for the Delawares in Pennsylvania. “While the Delawares expect and deserve to be included in the slot machine legislation that is currently being debated, the fact is that we must prepare ourselves to move forward with Class II gaming to protect the interests of the Delawares regardless of what happens in Harrisburg.”

The governor’s office earlier this year said that while several Native American tribes, including the Delaware, had petitioned the state for recognition, it felt that none of the tribes qualified for recognition in Pennsylvania under the standards set by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. At that time a spokeswoman in the governor’s office said Gov. Ed Rendell was prepared to battle an Indian land claim in court.

Feeley said the Delaware Indians would much rather work with the state in partnership.

“Are we partners, or are we contentious? We’d rather be partners,” Feeley said.

State Sen. Vincent Fumo of Philadelphia has drafted legislation which would allow two tribal entities to be licensed to operate slot machines in Pennsylvania, though that draft legislation has not yet been made public, Feeley said.

“They would be treated like any other licensee. To do that, they would agree to waive their sovereign immunity rights to gaming in Pennsylvania,” Feeley said.

Feeley said that under the Fumo proposal the Indian gaming would be fully regulated by the state, but if the case goes to court, the state could end up with no say over the operations, and no revenue from the gaming.

“We believe that Indian gaming is coming to Pennsylvania in some form. We are telling the state of Pennsylvania that we are willing to work with them. If we go through the courts, it could be an unregulated process,” Feeley said.

Dr. Stephen Dow Beckham, a history professor at Lewis and Clark College in Portland Oregon, said he was hired by the Delaware Tribe of Eastern Oklahoma to prepare a report on whether there was land in Pennsylvania to which the tribe could establish a claim.

“There was evidence of multiple tribes living in Pennsylvania in the early colonial times. The Delaware, the Susquehanna, Six Nations People, those were all peoples with tribal lands in Pennsylvania,” Beckham said.

Beckham said the Delaware weren’t looking for a large tract of land to claim for a reservation.

“They were looking for a piece of land that was legitimately theirs that they could bring before the commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Beckham said.

The land Beckham found is a tract known as Tatamy’s Tract, a 315-acre site in Northampton County that includes the Crayola factory, about 25 private homes and several other businesses.

“They were using it as a way to get to the table to discuss gaming,” Beckham said. “There was reason for Gov. Rendell to listen when the Delawares came to him.”

Beckham said he examined several other tracts in Pennsylvania for the Delaware, but they did not meet the criteria of occupation by successive generations, as well as having been taken from the tribe by an entity other than the federal government after Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790 which states that only the federal government may allot land to tribes.

Beckham said that arguments that there are Delaware Indian descendants living in Pennsylvania who should be considered in any settlement are invalid.

“Merely being the descendant of a Native American is insufficient. The matter is, they are not federally recognized,” Beckham said.

Beckham said he has not looked into any potential Seneca claims in Pennsylvania, since he has not been contacted by anyone seeking those services.

“The Delaware Tribe’s status as a restored and landless tribe makes Class II a very real and exciting prospect in both the gaming and financial world,” said Edward M. Tracy, a Pennsylvania-based gaming executive and consultant. “Combined with their other land claims, it makes it a virtual certainty that Indian gaming is coming to Pennsylvania, and probably sooner rather than later.”

Feeley said the Delaware would also pursue Class III gaming if it is voted into law in Pennsylvania through passage of slots legislation.