The Associated Press

DAYTON, Ohio - An American Indian tribe that wants to establish a $550 million bingo hall and gaming complex in the western Ohio village of Botkins would have to meet complicated federal requirements if the plan is to succeed.

To establish an Indian gaming site, a tribe must be federally recognized and have land - a reservation or land held in trust for a tribe or individual by the federal government - on which to establish gaming, said Rick Schiff, acting chief of staff of the National Indian Gaming Commission.

Ohio now has neither, according to Mary Moss, of the Miami (Okla.) Field Services office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

It's extremely complex. Everything's interrelated," Schiff told the Dayton Daily News.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act states that land taken in trust after 1988 must benefit the tribe, not be detrimental to the surrounding community and be approved by the governor.

Gov. Bob Taft and many state officials oppose plans to expand Ohio's present gambling laws to allow casinos, but some Botkins residents seem to favor the idea of a gaming hall in the village about 50 miles north of Dayton.

Officials of the village of 1,200 residents haven't approved the seven-phase, 10-year project, but the village council has voted to buy 82 acres of land for a possible complex.