Three Affiliated Tribes Submit $2 Billion Casino & Arena Plan for Las Vegas Massacre Site

• North Dakota’s Three Affiliated Tribes are looking to build a new casino hotel and arena on the land they own across from the Luxor on the Vegas Strip
• The tribe submitted a pre-review application for the project to Clark County
• The land was the site of the deadly 2017 Harvest Festival shooting that killed 60 people

The Three Affiliated Tribes have submitted a pre-review application with Clark County to build a casino hotel, an arena with 15K-20K seats, and a theater across Las Vegas Boulevard from the Luxor, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The pre-review process is a sneak preview that allows county staff to ensure that all documents are complete before a formal submission — which would leak renderings all over the internet — is made.

The Three Affiliated Tribes, a tribal nation on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, haven’t said what purpose they intend the arena to serve — a highly relevant question considering that another arena is reportedly being planned for the Rio’s parking lot.

In a recent statement, Fox said he has “reached out to a dozen or more entities to build good working relationships with our neighbors, including the Golden Knights.” He later clarified that no partnership currently exists with the wildly successful NHL team. Indeed, the Knights claim they are committed to T-Mobile with a long-term lease and ownership stake, and owner Bill Foley told Vegas PBS in December 2024 that the team is working on securing a $300 million investment to improve T-Mobile.

Painful Past

Thirteen of the site’s 23 acres were part of Las Vegas Village, the site on which the Route 91 Harvest Festival became the deadliest massacre in modern US history on Oct. 1, 2017. Another two acres of the former Las Vegas Village were donated by MGM Resorts, the land’s former owner, to Clark County for a permanent memorial to the tragedy.

The tribe previously leased its land for uses including hosting a Christmas holiday festival and a set for “American Ninja Warrior.”

Despite the apparent full backing of the Clark County Commission, the project has reportedly drawn criticism from tribal members. Many of whom — including those who staged a protest near the land in 2023 — believe that running a large Las Vegas organization will detract the tribe from addressing pressing needs on the reservation.