# Golden Pony Casino Shuts Down Amid Tribal Leadership Dispute
Anyone traveling along Interstate 40 in eastern Oklahoma has likely seen signs advertising the Golden Pony Casino.
While not as large or luxurious as other tribal casinos,the Golden Pony is the sole gaming enterprise for Thlopthlocco Tribal Town (TTT),a small federally recognized Indian nation with headquarters in Okemah.
But over the past few weeks, an internal dispute over who is in charge of the tribe has triggered a near-shutdown of the tribe’s government and forced the casino to shut its doors. One of the main issues raised by opposition factions is that the tribe’s current leadership hasn’t called an election in 18 years.
Court records documenting the fight describe a tense scene at an October meeting of the tribe’s governing body, the Thlopthlocco Business Committee. During the meeting, a group arrived and demanded the committee members resign. When that didn’t happen, the group stayed on the property after the meeting and “conducted an unauthorized ‘election’ and declared they were the new Business Committee,” a court filing states.
A few days later, members of the self-appointed committee came into a tribal services office and began confronting employees and officials of the tribe, threatening to fire them, according to a trespass lawsuit filed in Okfuskee County district Court by the tribe’s incumbent leadership.
Attorneys for the incumbent government under Mekko (Town King) Brent Brown alleged in court that one rival faction forced entry into tribal buildings and threatened harm against TTT employees. Along with threats of physical harm, the attorneys said, some arrived on tribal
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