The future of a $1-billion casino in Massachusetts is beginning to fade. A ruling by the US Department of the Interior (DOI) last Friday confirmed that it will not be able to hold land in trust for the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, which had hoped to bring the casino to the state’s landscape. The ruling reverses a decision that was made by the DOI when Barack Obama was still president of the US.

According to the 28-page ruling, the tribe doesn’t qualify to have land placed in a trust since it wasn’t under federal jurisdiction when the US government passed the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934. The tribe, which asserts that its ancestors can be traced back almost four centuries, was only recognized by the federal government in 2007.

The ruling is a “tremendous blow” to efforts by the tribe to preserve its reservation, which was granted to it by the DOI a few years ago. The DOI gave the tribe 321 acres through a trust in 2015, later declaring it sovereign land of the Mashpee people.

A land in trust is a special status awarded by the federal government that holds the title of a particular property. It allows the tribe to which the trust is awarded to use the land freely and make its own decisions regarding things like natural resources and development.