A nationally known gambling expert said last week's bankruptcy filing by Station Casinos could hamper efforts by the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians to build a Madera County casino.

The Las Vegas-based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday. Station has a deal with the North Fork tribe to run a proposed $250 million casino, which would include about 2,500 slot machines, 70 table games, multiple restaurants and a hotel.

It is estimated the project would generate 2,500 temporary construction jobs and almost 1,500 full-time jobs after the casino and hotel open.

Another 2,300 Madera-area jobs could be created because of the economic spinoff of the mega-casino, and tribal leaders have said the project would generate $45 million to $50 million in annual vendor purchases.

But Station's bankruptcy is another setback for the long-planned casino, which also faces multiple governmental hurdles at the state and federal levels before ground can be broken.

A Station Casinos' spokeswoman said the deal is intact and the company is committed to the Madera project. The Mono tribe also said the bankruptcy will not pose a problem.

The company, however, will need permission from the bankruptcy judge to "do anything -- which puts a clamp on Station," said Bill Eadington, an economics professor and director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada in Reno.

Money also will have to be allocated to sustain the Madera project, he added.

"While in bankruptcy, it is very difficult to allocate funds for speculative ventures -- and this would probably fall under that," Eadington said.

The current credit crunch and lingering recession add to the challenge, not only for Station, but other high-profile gaming companies, as well.

One option for the company is to sell the Madera contract, if it could find a willing buyer in this economy, Eadington said. The casino, proposed to be built on a little more than 300 acres about four miles north of Madera, is in a prime location, which could possibly fetch $20 million to $40 million, he said.

Lori Nelson, a Station spokeswoman, declined to comment on the plan.

But Eadington said a gaming company that has experience working with Indian casinos would likely find the Madera project attractive based on the cash flow it could generate once it is up and running.

Thunder Valley Casino, located northeast of Sacramento and owned by the United Auburn Indian Community, raked in $75 million in profits during its first year of operation in 2004 and 2005.

"That's as attractive as you can get," Eadington said.

Station, conversely, could probably use the cash from a sale, he said.

Nelson said the bankruptcy filing was at the parent company level and does not affect individual casino properties, including the Madera project.

"There's absolutely no impact with our relationship with the tribe," she said.

In a written statement, Tribal Chairwoman Elaine Bethel-Fink also said the project would not be affected and that Station remained "committed to the project."

Still, the proposal -- which would be California's first off-reservation casino -- faces significant challenges beyond Station's bankruptcy filing. Foremost among those is the nation's faltering economy.

In addition, the proposed casino site has to be put into federal trust, and a gambling compact reached between the tribe and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger must be approved by state lawmakers.

"There's still a lot of problematic hurdles for this particular tribe to meet," said state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, a longtime opponent of the proposal.

Florez sits on the state Senate committee that must ratify the compact, and he is concerned that it would be located more than 30 miles from the tribe's historic lands.

Madera County Supervisor Vern Moss -- who has been opposed to the casino, though his fellow supervisors support it -- said the biggest issue is the lengthy amount of time that has passed with no decision from the federal government on the matter.

Added to the Station bankruptcy, he said, it does not bode well for the casino proposal.

The reporter can be reached at jellis@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6320.