NAFOA once again names financing involving Drummond Woodsum its Business Impact Deal of the Year

April 30, 2026

The Native American Finance Officers Association (NAFOA) awarded the Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians the Association’s Business Impact Deal of the Year this week for closing a $390 million financing to develop Caesars Republic Sonoma County, a new resort set to open in 2027 on the site of the current River Rock Casino in Geyserville, California. The win marks the second year in a row and the third time in five years that Drummond Woodsum’s Tribal Nations Law Practice has been at the center of deals honored by NAFOA. The firm continues to help revolutionize the way Tribal Nations finance large-scale gaming and entertainment projects in Indian Country, most recently by creating new long-term capital options previously unavailable to them.

Arranged by Citizens Capital Markets & Advisory, the deal brought together a lending syndicate that includes Tribal Nations, regulated banks, institutional investors, and real estate investment trust Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. under a single credit agreement, creating one of the first financing structures of its kind in Indian Country and expanding access to institutional-scale financing for tribal gaming developments.

Drummond Woodsum served as lead counsel to Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc., which committed $225 million to serve as the lead real estate financing partner. Under the financing structure, GLPI will initially act as a lender to the project, with a fixed-rate delayed draw term loan of $180 million, and a term loan B of $45 million. Upon, or prior to, maturity of the 6-year term loans, Dry Creek will lease the property to an affiliate of GLPI for a 45-year term for an amount no less than $112.5 million, and GLPI will sublease the property back to an affiliate of Dry Creek, with annual rent on the sublease will be based on a fixed cap rate.

The agreement expands on the model Drummond Woodsum helped GLPI develop in its 2024 transaction with the Ione Band of Miwok Indians, which represented the first time a long-term financing through real estate investment trusts — a cornerstone of commercial entertainment and gaming resort development — had been successfully deployed for tribal gaming facilities. NAFOA named that transaction its Business Impact Deal of the Year last April.

In 2022, NAFOA named Quapaw Nation Secretary Treasurer Guy Barker the Association’s Tribal Executive of the Year, primarily in recognition of his work to refinance the high-yield bond debt of the Downstream Casino Resort in Quapaw, Oklahoma and the Saracen Casino Resort in Pine, Bluff, Arkansas, which resulted in significant interest expense savings — another deal Drummond Woodsum helped conceive, put together, and execute.

In a press release announcing this year’s award, NAFOA said Dry Creek’s agreement “establishes a replicable model for Tribes nationwide to access large-scale capital markets on favorable terms.” The recognition underscores the significance of the transaction not only as a sophisticated financing structure, but as a model for advancing tribal economic development and self-determination.

Andrew Sweeney and Rob Gips led the Drummond Woodsum team advising GLPI. Stacey Caulk and Brittany Michaud advised on environmental law and commercial law matters respectively.