A grand opening recently was held at Naskila Entertainment, a 365-electronic bingo machine casino located on the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe’s Polk County reservation. The alcohol-free venue also features a players’ club, high-stakes gambling area and a restaurant, and created about 200 new jobs.
However, the casino’s future could be jeopardy following U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone’s recent rejection of a motion by the El Paso, Texas-based Ysleta del Sur Pueblo tribe–the Tiguas–to vacate an injunction that has been in place for 15 years. Cardone’s 54-page ruling stated letters from the Department of Interior and National Indian Gaming Commission authorizing the El Paso-based Tiguas do not have the force of law. The ruling does not specifically apply to Alabama-Coushatta because the tribe was not part of the years-long federal court case in which the state of Texas blocked from several forms of gambling.
The Alabama-Coushattas cited similar letters sent last year by the Department of Interior and NIGC as authorizing it to reopen its casino, 13 years after a federal court order shut it down.
The key issue–whether or not Native American tribes in Texas can legally offer the type of gambling that includes bingo– was not settled in Cardone’s ruling because, she wrote, that issue was not specifically before her. She stated the way to resolve the matter is for tribes to offer bingo-style gambling and for the state to decide whether to challenge them in federal court. So far, the state attorney general’s office has declined to comment on whether it would attempt to shut down Alabama-Coushatta’s operation.
At issue is which of two federal laws regulate Native American gambling rights in Texas. The 1987 Restoration Act, which granted federal recognition to the Tiguas and Alabama-Coushattas, also included a ban on “all gaming activities which are prohibited by the laws” of Texas. In 1988, Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, establishing a national framework for regulating gambling on reservations.
Both the state of Texas and U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals previously determined the Restoration Act takes precedent, and Cardone agreed. She said the NIGC’s letter is “inexplicably inconsistent” with the position the commission took in 2010 when it said it did not govern the tribe. Cardone had asked for federal guidance on the letters but said she did not receive it.
Under the Restoration Act, the letters cited by the Alabama-Coushattas would not authorize gambling on its reservation. But Naskila spokesman Chuck McDonald said the tribe asserts the law allows its bingo hall. “Bingo is played throughout the state of Texas,” he said.
