Washington Says Scotts Valley Was Warned Before It Opened a Casino That Lasted Six Days

A Justice Department lawyer told a federal judge on Friday that the tribe knew Interior might reverse its gaming eligibility. The tribe says it notified Interior of its launch timeline twice and was never told to stop. A $700m resort depends on how Judge McFadden reads the restored lands exception.

• A Department of Justice attorney told a federal judge on Friday that the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians knew the Interior Department could reverse an earlier determination that its Vallejo land was eligible for gaming, Casino.org reports
• The tribe opened its Preview Casino on 24 July, offering Class II gaming from modular structures; six days later Interior determined that the land did not qualify for gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, forcing it to close
• Scotts Valley is asking US District Judge Trevor McFadden for a preliminary injunction blocking Interior's 30 July decision; the outcome bears on a proposed $700 million casino resort and hotel for the site
• Interior accepted that the tribe met the requirements on modern ties to the area and the timing of the acquisition, but concluded it had not demonstrated a sufficiently significant historical connection to the land under the restored lands exception
• DOJ attorney Amber Dutton-Bynum argued the tribe could not meet the threshold for irreparable harm and that the modular buildings could be repurposed, as reported by Law360; the tribe's attorney Patrick Bergin said Scotts Valley formally notified Interior twice about its launch timeline and gave regular progress updates without ever being told to halt

A Casino That Opened on 24 July and Closed on 30 July

A dispute over six days of Class II gaming in Vallejo, California is now a test of how far a tribe may proceed while its legal authority is under review. The Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians opened its Preview Casino on 24 July from modular structures. On 30 July the Interior Department determined that the land did not qualify for gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, and the casino shut.

On Friday, a Department of Justice attorney told US District Judge Trevor McFadden that the tribe had known this could happen. Amber Dutton-Bynum argued that Scotts Valley chose to invest in the Preview Casino while its gaming status remained uncertain, that it could not meet the high threshold for irreparable harm required for a preliminary injunction, and that the modular buildings could be repurposed for non-gaming commercial use, Casino.org reports, citing Law360.

The tribe's attorney Patrick Bergin rejected both points. Converting a site explicitly planned and built for gaming into something like a car dealership is not straightforward, he said, and the tribe had formally notified Interior twice about its launch timeline and provided regular progress updates without ever receiving a directive from federal officials to stop.

The underlying question is the restored lands exception. Under IGRA, gaming is generally prohibited on land taken into trust after 1988 unless a specific exception applies. Interior accepted that Scotts Valley satisfied the requirements on modern ties to the area and on the timing of the acquisition, but concluded that it had not shown a sufficiently significant historical connection to the parcel. The history is long: the outgoing Biden administration found the land eligible in January 2025; Interior rescinded that two months later after Secretary Doug Burgum questioned whether the historical connection had been properly evaluated; McFadden ruled in October 2025 that the rescission violated the tribe's due process rights, while leaving Interior free to reconsider the eligibility question properly. Scotts Valley says the reversal came under political pressure from the neighbouring Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, which opposes the development. McFadden appeared sceptical on Friday that the irreparable harm standard had been met, and has not ruled.

Both Sides Behaved as Though the Other Would Blink

The tribe opened a casino while the department was actively reconsidering whether it could. The department watched a launch it had been told about twice and did not tell the tribe to stop, then issued a determination six days later that closed it. Each of those is defensible in isolation and neither is good administration. A regulator that knows a regulated party is about to act on a permission under review has an obvious cheap intervention available, which is to say so in writing, and the absence of that letter is now part of the tribe's case.

"Significant Historical Connection" Is the Least Predictable Test in Federal Indian Law

Interior conceded two of the three limbs. The one it refused turns on how strong a historical tie to a specific parcel must be, and that is a judgement rather than a rule, applied to records that are frequently incomplete for precisely the reason the restored lands exception exists. That is why the same parcel can be eligible in January 2025 and ineligible in July 2026 without any facts on the ground changing, and why every off-reservation project in the country reads these decisions closely.

Neighbouring Tribes Are a Structural Feature of US Gaming Expansion, Not a Side Issue

Scotts Valley's allegation of political pressure from Yocha Dehe is contested and unproven, but the pattern it describes is ordinary. An established tribal operator with a catchment to protect has every incentive to oppose a new casino nearby, and the federal process gives it formal and informal routes to do so. That competitive dynamic sits inside a statutory scheme built for tribal self-determination, and it is the reason these disputes so often end up in front of a judge in Washington rather than being settled in California.

A $700 million resort now rests on a historical connection test and a judge who has not yet ruled. The six days the doors were open may turn out to be the least consequential part of it.