Tribe touts Minn. casino for Vikings stadium
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Northwestern Minnesota's White Earth Tribe wants to open a Twin Cities-area casino that its chairwoman says would help a poverty-stricken tribe and be a source of state money for a new Minnesota Vikings stadium.
White Earth Chairwoman Erma Vizenor said Thursday that the 20,000-member tribe has desperate needs in health care, education and housing that could be addressed if lawmakers let them open a casino in the much more populated Twin Cities area.
Vizenor proposes the tribe and the state split an estimated profit of at least $300 million a year. She says that lets state lawmakers avoid any new stadium taxes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Recent stadium negotiations have focused on downtown Minneapolis land next to the Metrodome. Numerous proposals for expanded gambling have been offered as potential state funding sources.