About this app
What is Striking Diamond?
According to a high court ruling from over a decade ago, the tax rise cannot be allowed to rise to the point of ‘consuming livelihoods’.
“If the tax burden alone makes it impossible to establish the occupation of slot machine operators as the economic basis of one’s livelihood within the municipality,” the ruling said.
Braun also argued that the public had been excluded from the preparatory finance committee meeting without justification.
How to play Striking Diamond
For the gaming industry, the marked economic shift over the course of 2026 and a return to an elevated interest-rate environment after years of post-Covid easing could dissipate some of the optimism that prevailed at the onset of this year.
Many top gaming stocks have underperformed relative to the broader market in recent years, and most of the M&A activity has been facilitated by private equity and other institutions that can more readily capitalise on depressed valuations. There had been hope that rates would start to fall and help alleviate those pressures.
“Publicly traded valuations are a reflection of the current interest rate environment,” Chad Beynon, lead gaming analyst for Macquarie, told iGB. “Whether it’s a long-term financial model on a growth company, you’re going to discount that back at a higher rate, or if it’s just a standard four-wall business, the cash flows in a higher interest rate environment are worth less.”
What is Striking Diamond?
In November 2024, Minnesota Valley issued the tribe a cease-and-desist order and threatened to disconnect Prairie’s Edge if the system was activated. The tribe countered that the utility’s generation restrictions did not apply because the system was designed solely to power its own property and would not feed electricity back onto the grid.
The array, which includes an 800-kilowatt battery storage system, is expected to cover about 30% of the casino’s electricity needs. Prairie’s Edge is the Upper Sioux Community’s principal economic engine, helping fund housing, healthcare, education, and public safety.
In June, Administrative Law Judge Joseph Meyer sided with the tribe, finding Minnesota Valley’s policies did not prohibit behind-the-meter generation and that disconnecting the casino would violate the cooperative’s obligation to provide service.
