Although Indian gaming as defined by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) doesn’t exist in most of Alaska, one tribe in Klawock, Prince of Wales Island is operating 20 electronic bingo style machines.
KRBD radio is reporting that the Klawock tribe has been hosting bingo games and pull tabs for years. Only recently did they add the bingo machines to the tribal mini-mart and smoke shop.
The loophole the tribe uses to deploy electronic bingo machines that are illegal in the rest of the state is that, unlike most of Alaska, this tribe sits on land held in trust by the federal government—which predates the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. That act trumps IGRA when it comes to gaming in the state.
Some other Alaska tribes have tried. In 2018 the Native Village of Eklutna tried to open a similar operation but it was denied by a federal court.
The difference was that Eklutna wanted to open a casino on a Native Allotment, i.e. land owned by tribal members, not the tribe. The Klawock land is owned by the entire tribe.
Anchorage attorney Lloyd Miller told KRBD that the Eklutna land “was an allotment awarded to individuals, a former chief, I mean, this goes way back in time. … It was not a parcel of land taken into trust for the tribe for the benefit of the tribe and held in trust for the benefit of the tribe.” Miller added, “That’s a big difference.”
Klawock does have jurisdiction over its land. It also has a Class II license from the National Indian Gaming Commission.
Tribal administrator Lawrence Armour explained to KRBD how the casino and tobacco sales help fund the tribe’s services. “I mean, this, the smoke shop is what we pay a lot of our tribal employee salaries with if they’re not covered by a grant. And we just need another revenue source. So it was just one of the ideas that we started discussing. And the opportunity kind of fell in our laps.”
But Klawock may not be alone forever. Armour said, “I think there are some tribes that were looking into it.” Armour added, “So we (Klawock Cooperative Association) were really trying to keep it under wraps, as far as progress and who our contacts were — to try to get this thing off and beat them to the punch, basically.”
