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Dayton aide, tribal representatives met on stadium

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Nov 4, 2011 at 8:45 am

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - A senior adviser to Gov. Mark Dayton has met with representatives of two Minnesota Indian tribes amid talk that expanded casino gambling could help finance a Vikings stadium.

Dayton acknowledged the meeting in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press. He says he has not personally spoken with tribal officials about the issue.

Dayton described the meeting led by his deputy chief of staff as merely conversations where "nothing definitive'' resulted. His spokeswoman later identified the represented tribes last week as the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.

They run two of Minnesota's most lucrative tribal casinos. Lobbyists for both tribes didn't return messages from the AP.

The tribes have long resisted an expansion of gambling that would allow new casinos to rival theirs.