Hogback, New Mexico and Chinle, Arizona will be hosts to two of five proposed new Navajo casinos after documents were signed Thursday providing Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise with a $5.3 million dollar loan to fund the projects.

The loan, signed by Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., Navajo Nation Controller Mark Grant and NNGE CEO Robert Winter, will be divided between the two sites. $3.3 million will go toward the Hogback casino (Tse’ Daa K’aan) set to open in October.  Chinle, with an opening aimed for the end of the year, will get $2 million.

“This represents a culmination of a year-long effort,” Navajo Nation Controller Mark Grant told the Navajo-Hopi Observer.

The proposed sites for the remaining three Navajo projects include Upper Fruitland, New Mexico, Twin Arrows, Arizona and between Sanders and Holbrook, Arizona.

By GGB Staff

Staff writers for Global Gaming Business magazine. Las Vegas, Nevada.