Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton at last has made his intentions known regarding the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe’s Naskila Entertainment Center, located on the tribe’s 10,000-acre reservation near Livingston, Texas. Paxton recently filed a lawsuit in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas claiming the venue, offering 365 electronic bingo machines, violates an existing 14-year old court injunction and therefore should be shut down. Also, he said, the tribe should pay a ,000-per-day fine for every day it’s been in operation since it opened June 2—nearly 0,000 to date.
The filing said, “Texas law does not permit the gaming at issue–fully automated, essentially instantaneous electronic bingo games that start and end with a single push of a button–for any purpose.”
Tribal spokesman Chuck McDonald said, “This is the bottom line: We believe the Alabama-Coushatta will prevail because we believe the Alabama-Coushatta are operating Naskila Gaming legally.” The tribe claims letters it received from the Department of Interior and the National Indian Gaming Commission granted it authority to reopen the casino, which the state shut down in 2002.
Earlier, Paxton’s office sent a letter to Alabama-Coushatta’s attorneys asking the tribe to hold off opening Naskila until a separate case involving the El Paso-based Tigua Tribe had been decided. Ultimately, in that case U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone rejected similar letters and ordered the Tigua’s casino to cease offering “sweepstakes.” The Tigua now plan to offer traditional bingo games that are legal in Texas.
However, McDonald said, “It’s a vastly different case.” He said the Alabama-Coushatta tribe claims federally recognized Native American tribes are allowed to offer the same level of gambling as allowed by state law; therefore bingo machines are permissible because the state allows charitable bingo.
According to the case schedule, Magistrate Judge Keith Giblin will not set a trial date before June 2017.
