Tribe Casino In Minnesota Could Help Finance New Vikings Stadium

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- 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.

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.