Eklutna Tribe Expanding Temporary Gaming Hall in Alaska

^{The Eklutna Village hopes a new expansion project, combined with alcohol sales, will attract more visitors to its gaming hall. (Photo: Danita Delimont / Alamy)} 

The Native Village of Eklutna is expanding its Chin’an Gaming Hall in Birchwood, Alaska as it waits to see if its hopes of building a permanent facility pass legal muster.

The Eklutna began their 5,000-square-foot expansion in January and hope to attract more visitors by selling alcohol at the facility moving forward.

Lack of Legal Certainty Led to Temporary Expansion

The Eklutna first opened its gaming hall in February 2025. That came after a 2024 US Interior Department decision that allowed Alaska’s federally recognized tribes more tribal authority.

However, the Trump administration reserved that decision in September 2025 and has asked the National Indian Gaming Commission to reconsider actions based on the 2024 decision, including allowing the Chin’an Gaming Hall to open.

Those legal concerns and others could take years to play out. But in the meantime, the Chin’an Gaming Hall remains operational, and tribal officials hope the expansion will help the facility operate more effectively in the long term.

“I think we just hit a point where we realize, ‘Hey…we’re not getting any clarification,’” Eklutna Village President Aaron Leggett told the Anchorage Daily News. “So, we made the decision that we wanted to offer more services to our people that are coming here.”

The expansion effort would add 90 more electronic gaming machines to the gaming hall, bringing the total to more than 200. – As a Class II facility, the Chin’an Gaming Hall cannot offer true slots or table games. The new building will provide more space for security upgrades and office space, and will increase the number of employees at the venue to about 75.

Birchwood Residents Oppose Alcohol Sales at Casino

Most significantly, however, the casino is also hoping to sell alcohol in the near future. Officials purchased the nearby Birchwood Saloon, and are looking to transfer the bar’s liquor license to the gaming hall.

That has drawn the ire of some Birchwood residents, who have already been skeptical of the casino. In 2024, residents attempted to argue that the Eklutna should be stripped of its federal recognition as a tribe, and though that lawsuit was dismissed, there is still an appeal pending in the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Last week, the Birchwood Community Council adopted a resolution protesting the effort to sell alcohol at the casino. However, tribal officials say that the local community has nothing to fear.

“We are a responsible community partner,” Chin’an General Manager Ryan Walker said. “We do operate within the regulations. We understand that if we were to be granted a liquor license, the responsibility that comes with that.”

Eklutna officials say they hope to have the larger version of the temporary facility open by May. The long-term goal is to open a larger, 58,000-square-foot casino that village leaders had hoped would be able to open sometime in 2026, though that timeline has been pushed back by the legal challenges.