Chukchansi Files New Federal Lawsuit to Stop North Fork Casino

A new legal battle is underway in the long-running fight between two California tribal gaming operators, as the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians seeks to block the planned October opening of the North Fork Mono Casino & Resort in Madera County. Picayune Files Third Federal Challenge to North Fork Casino The complaint, filed in federal court in June, is the third federal challenge Picayune has filed against the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians in about 14 years. Station Casinos, which is managing the project, and the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) are also named in the case. The dispute comes down to whether North Fork still has the state authorization required to conduct Class III gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). An earlier approval by former California Gov. Jerry Brown was essentially wiped out when voters rejected the tribe’s gaming compact in 2014, Picayune said. The legal history of the project dates back more than a decade. In 2011, the federal government concluded that North Fork’s proposed Madera County site could be eligible for development. Brown then agreed with the federal determination, and negotiated a gaming compact with the tribe. California voters later rejected that compact through legislation ratifying that compact, Proposition 48. The results of that vote were to become the subject of further litigation. North Fork Casino’s October Opening Faces New Legal Threat In 2024, a Madera County Superior Court found that the referendum had nullified Brown’s concurrence. In California, the Fifth District Court of Appeal reached the same conclusion in December 2025, ruling the approval was invalid from the outset. The California Supreme Court declined further appeal in April 2026, leaving the state-court decision intact. Picayune is banking on that ruling in its federal complaint. The tribe contends that North Fork cannot rely on IGRA’s exception for certain gaming activities on lands acquired into federal trust after 1988 because the required state concurrence has since lapsed. North Fork disagrees with that interpretation. The tribe has said its authority to run gaming on its federal trust land is governed by federal law, and it has pointed to previous federal lawsuits in which challenges to federal approvals for the project failed. North Fork and Station Casinos have filed motions to dismiss the latest case, saying Picayune is raising arguments that have already been considered in previous proceedings. Work on the North Fork project, meanwhile, has been ongoing. The roughly $725 million development will be built on 305 acres of land along Highway 99, just north of Madera. The property is expected to include more than 2,400 slot machines, 40 table games, eight dining venues and four bars. The casino is also expected to create more than 1,500 jobs. Its location could make it a strong competitor to the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino, which is located near Coarsegold along Highway 41. North Fork broke ground in 2024 after years of legal and regulatory delays and is now aiming for an October opening. However, the latest federal lawsuit puts the project’s timeline into another court battle as the two tribes continue to disagree on the legal basis for gaming at the Madera site.