Ho-Chunk seeks to enter lawsuit over Iowa casino

Published 1:50 pm, Saturday, March 15, 2014

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Ho-Chunk Inc., the economic development division of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, is seeking to intervene in a high-stakes legal fight over casino gambling in Sioux City.

 

Ho-Chunk filed requests Friday to intervene in a lawsuit brought by owners of the Argosy riverboat casino in Sioux City, the Sioux City Journal reported (http://bit.ly/1fzg9AT ).

 

The lawsuit by Argosy parent company, Penn National Gaming Co., is challenging the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission's decision last year to award a casino license to the owners of the Hard Rock casino, which is being built in downtown Sioux City.

 

The Hard Rock proposal beat out bids from Penn National and Ho-Chunk for the license.

 

"We generally don't like lawsuits because they are expensive and messy," Ho-Chunk President and CEO Lance Morgan said. "However, we spent over $1 million on the (bid) process and, if it was flawed, then at the very least we need to have a seat at the table."

 

If the courts determine that neither the Hard Rock nor Penn National's bid should be awarded the license and that the application process was "inappropriate or flawed," the Ho-Chunk-led group would be the "logical recipient" of the license, attorneys for the group contend in their court filing.

 

In the petition, Ho-Chunk lodges complaints similar to Penn National's about the process and proceedings that led to the commission awarding the license to the Hard Rock group.

 

Among other complaints, it contends that the commission violated its own selection procedures by allowing Hard Rock developers to make "wholesale, and untimely, amendments" to its application, including its financing.

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Information from: Sioux City Journal, http://www.siouxcityjournal.com