Gov. Bill Owens does not want any more Indian casinos in Colorado. The Golden-based Native American Land Group wants to build a $400 million casino near DIA. According to Michael Brendzel, vice president of the company, Owen’s exact words were “Over my dead body.”

Brendzel says he will just wait until Owens is out of office and try again. His group had offered to pay $1 billion for the “land swap.”

The Cheyenne-Arapahos’ proposed casino, which would generate an estimated $100 million in annual profits for the tribes, would be inside a luxury hotel and adjacent to an 18-hole golf course and mall, Brendzel said. The tribes also want to construct a Plains Indian cultural center.

….The tribes say the resort would create jobs and help fund the “literally crumbling schools” in the state, Brendzel said.

The Ute Mountain Casino in southern Colorado is the state’s only Indian casino to date.