Tlingit & Haida opens on line casino amid federal evaluation of Alaska tribal gaming coverage

The Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska held a delicate opening this week for Two Coppers Casino on North Douglas Island, advancing a undertaking that acquired federal authorization final yr to function Class II gaming on the positioning.

In an announcement, Tlingit and Haida President Richard J. Peterson stated the undertaking would create financial improvement alternatives for the tribe.

“For Tlingit and Haida, this enterprise represents opportunity,” Peterson stated. “Opportunity for jobs. Opportunity for career advancement. Opportunity for tribal citizens and residents seeking meaningful employment. Opportunity to generate revenues that can support services, programs, and investments that strengthen our communities for generations to come.”

However, even because it opens its doorways, Two Coppers faces a shifting authorized panorama. In September 2025, the U.S. Department of the Interior withdrew a 2024 solicitor’s opinion that had acknowledged tribal jurisdiction over Alaska Native allotments.

That opinion fashioned the idea for the National Indian Gaming Commission’s approval of Tlingit and Haida’s amended gaming ordinance, which designated the 20-acre Jimmie George allotment as eligible for a gaming facility. The withdrawal requires the NIGC to reevaluate that approval, creating uncertainty for each the Douglas Island undertaking and the Native Village of Eklutna’s Chin’an Gaming Hall close to Anchorage that opened in Jan. 2025.

The 2024 opinion had changed a 1993 interpretation that restricted tribal authority on allotments. Its reversal strengthens the state’s place in ongoing litigation difficult Eklutna’s facility and will affect how federal businesses deal with Tlingit and Haida’s ordinance going ahead. The NIGC has not introduced the way it will handle the change.

Two Coppers Casino is the second tribally operated Class II venue to open in Alaska. The delicate opening introduced invited visitors, companions and members of the George household to the allotment at 2270 Fish Creek Road, in line with the tribe’s press launch. The facility opened with roughly 100 digital gaming machines and can function with restricted hours till a deliberate July 1 grand opening.

About The Author

Staff Writer

Chez Oxendine (Lumbee-Cheraw) is a workers author for Tribal Business News. Based in Oklahoma, he focuses on broadband, Indigenous entrepreneurs, and federal coverage. His journalism has been featured in Native News Online, Fort Gibson Times, Muskogee Phoenix, Baconian Magazine, and Oklahoma Magazine, amongst others.

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