The North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem recently announced that, despite his personal objection to the idea, he could not stop the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa from opening an electronic bingo casino in the proximity of Grand Forks. Nevertheless, he also added that Governor John Hoeven did have it in his power to prevent the gaming venue plan from materializing in the future.

Although, at first, tribal officials wanted to operate slot machines, they ultimately switched to electronic bingo devices. The reason behind such a move is the fact that, while slot machines are considered Class III gambling devices that would require a certain modification in the state gambling compact, electronic bingo is considered Class II, and requires no change in the aforementioned compact.

However, since the tribe reportedly seeks to operate the video bingo venue near Grand Forks, it first needs to obtain federal government agreement to the conversion of the land to trust land coming under tribal jurisdiction. Stenehjem said that the Governor could veto any government agreement to such a conversion. On his part, Hoeven was reported as saying that he wouldn't support the tribe's bingo project because it would be a significant expansion of gambling in North Dakota.