A measure to put a proposed casino complex in a southeastern South Dakota city to a statewide vote will be debated by the state Senate.
Senators voted 20-11 on Thursday to schedule the Yankton casino and entertainment measure for debate next week.
Kasi Haberman, Convention and Visitor’s Bureau director in Yankton, recently told a Senate committee that the Port Yankton project is an effort to drive tourism for the city and state.
But Native American tribes in Nebraska and South Dakota objected to the plan. Yankton Sioux Tribe Vice Chairman Jason Cooke told the panel that the tribe’s casino employs people and helps support programming including education.
Cooke said Port Yankton would be “very detrimental” to his tribe.
The proposed constitutional amendment would ask voters to give a nonprofit group one gambling license in Yankton.