Glendale Approves $400 Million TON Resort-Style Casino

In a heated 4½-hour meeting, the Glendale City Council voted Tuesday to approve a deal with the Tohono O’odham Nation that will bring $26 million to city coffers over 20 years, completing the city’s about-face on the tribe’s planned casino near Westgate Entertainment District.

The TON Casino & Resort has been knocking at Glendale’s door since January 2009, when the O’odham Nation first announced the community’s gaming plans for a West Valley casino. Such a casino, right off the Loop 101, would create untold competition for the Gila River Indian Community, a tribe that currently has the West Valley’s only casino — Vee Quiva Hotel & Casino about 25 miles away from the proposed site of the TON’s resort-style casino.

The council listened to dozens of residents’ comments in a packed council chamber before approving the deal in support of the Southern Arizona tribe’s $400 million casino project on reservation land.

Some residents and council members said the deal will shortchange Glendale.

The nearly two dozen residents who spoke at the meeting were split on the casino development. Some argued it would increase crime and lead to further gambling addiction. They also complained that the decision was being rushed.

“What we are being presented with tonight is peanuts compared to what other cities have negotiated,” Councilman Manny Martinez said.

Tohono O’odham cleared all legal hurdles to build the Glendale casino

The deal with Glendale and the Tohono O’odhams clears another hurdle in the tribe’s push to build the casino southeast of Loop 101 and Northern Avenue.

The agreement, approved 4-3, will also bring in $2 million for the city’s Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Councilmembers Gary Sherwood, Norma Alvarez, Ian Hugh and Sam Chavira voted for the casino. Mayor Jerry Weiers and Councilmembers Yvonne Knaack and Martinez voted no.

Others said they favored the casino, arguing that it would bring entertainment, jobs and much-needed revenue to Glendale.

The Rev. Jarrett Maupin said Glendale is in no position to ask for a better deal because it has opposed the tribe for the past five years.

“These are peace talks,” Maupin said. “You lost the war.”

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