WICHITA, Kan. (AP) – The legal fray over the Wyandotte Nation’s efforts to build a casino in Park City will now be played out in a Kansas courtroom in a case that pits American Indian sovereignty against the state’s own economic interests in gambling.

The Wyandotte Nation initially filed its federal lawsuit in Washington, D.C., seeking to force the Interior Department to accept into trust a tract of Park City land the tribe bought in 1992. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act allows tribes to conduct gambling only on Indian lands, defined as land within its reservation or held in trust by the United States.

On Monday, the case was formally transferred to Kansas over the tribe’s objections. The move follows U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell’s ruling last month that the dispute is a matter of “significant local interest” that could best be handled in the federal judicial district where the land is located. The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson in Topeka.

Wyandotte Nation, formerly known as the Wyandotte Tribe of Oklahoma, contends that after it was restored as a federal recognized tribe in 1978, it needed to reacquire lands lost due to “the failed federal policies of the past.” The Wyandotte Nation contends it bought the Park City land using funds Congress set aside to be used for land that would be put into trust for the tribe’s benefit.

Also Monday, the Interior Department filed its response to the tribe’s claims. In it, the agency argued that there is justification for its ongoing review of the tribe’s application and argued the tribe is not entitled to any relief from the court.

The state of Kansas wants to intervene in the lawsuit to protect its taxing, regulatory and economic interests. The state has granted Peninsula Gaming the exclusive right to operate a casino in south-central Kansas and is building it just 25 miles from where the tribe wants to put one.

While the Wyandotte Nation argues in its lawsuit that federal law compels the Interior Department to accept the land into trust, Kansas claims the exact opposite: that the law prohibits the trust acquisition. So while tribe is seeking a court order compelling the Interior Department to accept land into trust that has been pending for five years, the state is asking that the Interior Department be barred from accepting it.

The Interior Department does not oppose the state’s request to join in the case, though it does not concede to its claims. The tribe has opposed the move by the state to join the lawsuit. Now that the case has been moved to Kansas, it will be up to Robinson to decide whether to allow the state to intervene.

Jeff Wagaman, deputy chief of staff for Attorney General Derek Schmidt, said in an email that the attorney general’s office is ready “to defend the state’s interest regardless which court hears the case.”