Water issues help unite
gaming and golfing

One development type where less has meant more is golf courses built to accompany gambling. It's a natural fit for golf development, in part because gaming draws tourists and so does a golf resort.

While other issues, like land use and tourism, certainly apply, reasons for locating courses near casinos are as related to water issues as they are anything else. Casinos often are located on reservation property owned by Native American tribes. The water arrangement that usually can be worked out with the tribes is often worth all the other issues that a developer must contend with in these situations.

As sovereign nations, Native American holdings are free of federal and state regulation of water rights, and development on this property doesn't have to comply with local, state or federal environmental laws.

Also, such arrangements are no longer limited to Nevada. As casinos on Native American land have proliferated, so have golf courses. Currently, projects are reportedly in development in Missouri, Mississippi and Connecticut.

-- K.H.