A federal court voided a tribe's $50 million bond debt, a controversial and significant development in the unmapped area of tribal finance and federal law.  The Lac du Flambeau Chippewa Tribe in Wisconsin, through its Lake of the Torches Economic Development Corporation, in 2008 had entered into a deal -- a trust indenture -- with Wells Fargo Bank to refinance and expand the Tribe's Grand Soleil casino project in Natchez, Mississippi.  The Grand Soleil project, in the works since 2005, hit hard times.  As a result, the Tribe wasn't able to make the promised bond payments due under the trust indenture.  The bond was secured by the Tribe's revenue at its Lake of the Torches Resort Casino in Vilas County, Wisconsin.  Wells Fargo sued the Tribe for breach of the deal,

On Thursday, the latest edition of the Indian Gaming Industry Report was released.  Authored by economist Alan Meister and published by Casino City Press, the annual Report is a well respected source for economic and financial information about the tribal gaming industry, much of which is not easily available from any other source.  In particular, the Report provides information by state, while the National Indian Gaming Commission reports only by region.  The Report also does a nice job of providing important information r

So, back to the recent announcement that the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has ditched investors Kerzner and Wolman, and has partnered with Arkana Limited of the Genting Group.

. . . the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in Massachusetts is switching its financial backers.  The Tribe had partnered with Sol Kerzner and Len Wolman back in 2007, but now have reached a tentative deal with Arkana Limited, a company affiliated with the Genting Group.

According to the Norwich Bulletin, Apollo Management, the parent company of Harrah's Entertainment, is considering buying the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation's casino debt.

Because of the public nature of Indian gaming, the deal wouldn't work exactly like it might in private industry.  Federal law -- namely, IGRA -- prohibits any entity other than a tribe from owning an Indian gaming operation.  So, this isn't a potential takeover.

Still, Apollo could buy the debt at a reduced price, and profit by selling the debt when Foxwoods' profits return to pre-recession levels.  Notice the "when," rather than "if" -- industry experts are optimistic about the gaming industry bouncing back from the recession, talking about recovery as a matter of time.

This week's headlines provided an interesting juxtaposition in the financial health of the Indian gaming industry.  Is any of this indicative of a new trend?