Casino Stalker | Litigation

City registers domain for Tohono O'odham off-reservation casino

Thursday, December 9, 2010

It looks like the city of Glendale, Arizona, is trying to hijack web traffic for the proposed Tohono O'odham Nation casino.

The tribe announced plans for the $550 million West Valley Resort in January 2009. On January 9, 2009, the city registered www.westvalleyresort.com, according to the whois record.

"The city decided to register the website domain name because of its keyword value; people will be able to locate our educational information on this matter in their search for the topic of ‘West Valley Resort.' Website users can find the same site through a handful of urls (including www.westvalleyresort.com and mycitymyrights.com), which will all direct them to the same content, which will be housed at mycitymyrights.com," city attorney Craig Tindall told The Glendale Star. "This is the site we will use in our collateral. The domain names were established for $500, which is a standard registration fee."

The site currently doesn't host any content. But Tindall said it will eventually include the same information that's found on glendaleaz.com/Indianreservation.

The city and the Gila River Indian Community are suing the Bureau of Indian Affairs for approving the Tohono O'odham Nation's land-into-trust application. The BIA hasn't determined whether the land is eligible for gaming.

Get the Story:
Casino information keeps flowing (The Glendale Star 12/8)