Two Idaho tribes team for second proposed casino between Boise & Mtn. Home
April 15, 2025
A third Idaho Indigenous tribe is in the mix over the race to develop a resort and casino near the heavily populated Treasure Valley.
Last week, the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation closed on a 557-acre property straddling the Ada and Elmore counties south of I-84 between Mountain Home and Boise as the potential site for a casino. A press release from the tribe released Tuesday evening said the project will be developed in collaboration with the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, who is providing “a large upfront investment” to help the Sho-Pai develop and manage the project.
This would be the first casino for the Sho-Pai tribes. The Sho-Pai is the only Idaho tribe without a casino to fund services on the reservation or provide financial support to tribal members. The tribe, with its remote reservation on the Idaho-Nevada border, says the casino would help to address high rates of suicide and unemployment among tribal members and fund emergency services in the remote area where 911 calls can take up to two hours for a response due to the lack of dedicated law enforcement officers for Duck Valley.
“I dream of a future where our members have the resources, education, healthcare and employment opportunities they need to care for their families and preserve our way of life,” Shoshone-Paiute Chairman Brian Mason said in the press release. “A future where our children have hope and believe the best days are still ahead of them. Today, we have no meaningful economic opportunities and our community is facing some heavy challenges because of it. We want to solve our own problems and provide for our people. Tribal gaming will allow us to make these dreams into a reality.”
Mason did not disclose the exact address, parcel number of the property proposed for the casino after questions from BoiseDev, but he said the land is just under 557 acres straddling Elmore and Ada counties. It’s located two miles south of the exit for the Boise Stage Stop truck stop on Orchard Access Road and of those acres, only 40 will be dedicated to the casino. The tribe has not yet decided which county the project will be located in.
This comes years after BoiseDev reported that the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of Eastern Idaho were proposing a more than $300 million casino and resort on a 157-acre plot of land in the City of Mountain Home near the interstate. This project would be that tribe’s fourth casino, and its first located off of its Fort Hall reservation north of Pocatello. The proposal drew sharp rebuke from Sho-Pai leaders who said they were also hoping to move forward with their own casino in the Mountain Home area, which is closer to their reservation and already an area where many tribal members go for medical care, shopping, and other services.
The process for approving an off-reservation casino involves approval from several groups and officials at multiple levels of government, including a thumbs-up from Governor Brad Little. Depending on how the process moves forward for each tribe, he may be in a position where he has to select between the two tribal governments which application to approve, both could move ahead or some other scenario in between.
The status of the Sho-Ban proposal is unknown after the tribal government submitted its application to the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2023. As of February 2024, the tribe said that the application was still under review.
Casino to be managed by CDA tribe in partnership
Exactly how big the casino will be and what sort of amenities it will offer have yet to be determined.
In comparison with the Sho-Ban proposal that included a proposal for a 500,000-square-foot casino with 2,000 electronic gaming machines, a 250-room hotel, six restaurants, a 15,000 square-foot event center, an 8-lane bowling alley, two movie theaters, an arcade and a horse racing track with a grandstand, the Sho-Pai have fewer details available. Mason said the “long-term vision for the project includes the latest in tribal gaming machines,” a luxury hotel with an undetermined number of rooms, “fine dining options, a spa, fitness center and an entertainment venue.” Otherwise, he said it was still too early to share specific details.
On the website for the project, the tribe says it will dedicate five percent of the net gaming revenue to support local schools and education programs in the area.
The Sho-Pai previously said they were partnering with Oreana-based developer JTC Gaming LLC on the project, looking at a piece of land on the opposite side of the Mountain Home exit on I-84 from the Sho-Ban’s property. Mason said that the developer is no longer involved and the sole partner is the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, who will use its experience “successfully and responsibly” running its North Idaho casino in Worley to develop and manage the casino for a fee. The Sho-Pai will be its sole owner.
The specifics of this fee must be approved by the National Indian Gaming Commission and have yet to be determined.
“We have experienced the transformative power of gaming and we are honored to be able to help our brothers and sisters secure those same benefits,” Coeur d’Alene Chairman Chief Allan said in a press release. “When I was growing up, many tribal members lived in poverty and could not find jobs. Today, we have a state-of-the-art medical center, ample employment for tribal members and can financially support every tribal member who wants to earn a college degree. None of this would be possible without tribal gaming.”
To be approved to build the casino, the Sho-Pai would need approval from the U.S. Department of the Interior through the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act as well as a greenlight from the Governor’s Office. The county where the project will ultimately be located will also need to approve the project, whether that’s Elmore or Ada counties.