Opinion: Elk Valley Rancheria really angry at ex-gaming partner

Tuesday, August 2, 2011  

"Another gaming tribe feels that it has been exploited by a non-Indian gaming company with which it contracted for casino development and management services. While various tribes have tried to move on, one is aggressively pursuing legal remedies with a vengeance.

The Elk Valley Rancheria Tribe is headquartered in Crescent City, California, a small town on the Pacific Coast just south of the Oregon border. While that does not sound significant by itself, one needs to know that U.S. 101 runs through the city, and major retirement communities are situated in Southern Oregon only a few miles up the highway. The tribe has operated a casino for years.

Enter Las Vegas casino executive R. Shawn Ellis, who over the years has managed various tribal casinos, including Elk Valley Casino. In addition, he allegedly owns or has owned a number of companies through which he did business with Elk Valley. The Tribe contracted with him to manage its casino, and they apparently established a good relationship that in 2006 led to the Tribe loaning him some $480,000 for development of a proposed resort in Las Vegas. That project did not come together, the loan was never paid, and there now is an ugly legal battle between the two, which became embroiled in the November 2010 Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing by Ellis personally and three Ellis companies."

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Somewhere In Northern California Is A Really Angry Tribe… (Mondaq.com 8/2)
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