The Texas Attorney General’s Office in U.S. District Court in El Paso recently filed a lawsuit against the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, also known as the Tigua Tribe, alleging the electronic bingo games at the tribe’s Speaking Rock Entertainment Center are illegal gambling.
“Both the tribe’s slot machines purporting to offer ‘electronic bingo,’ and its paper and card minder-based bingo, involve the elements of an illegal lottery in Texas: chance, prize and consideration,” court documents said. The lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgment that the games are illegal, and preliminary and permanent injunctions to ban all electronic and paper bingo activities on tribal land.
The Tiguas and the state have been engaged in a contentious legal battle over gambling on tribal land since 1999. The state says the Tiguas are violating state gaming laws and the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Restoration Act, a 1987 federal law that gave the tribe federal recognition. Federal courts agreed and the state shut down the Tiguas’ casino in 2002, where it had been offering Class III games like slot machines, which are illegal in Texas. Since then, the tribe has faced numerous legal challenges as it introduced various gaming options at its Speaking Rock Entertainment Center.
However, under the Obama administration, the National Indian Gaming Commission declared the Tiguas could offer Class II games like bingo, which is legal in Texas. The Office of the Solicitor at the Department of the Interior said the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act essentially overruled the Restoration Act.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone of El Paso closed the original 1999 lawsuit last year. She said if the state wanted to seek an injunction or other action against the Tiguas, it would need to file a new lawsuit. That led to the recent case, which has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Philip Martinez of El Paso.
In the lawsuit, the Attorney General’s office said it had tried to inspect the casino since last July. At the time the Tiguas said they would stop offering sweepstakes games and switch to bingo-based games. Last year the Tigua Tribal Council had said police from outside the tribe had to get permission before entering tribal land.
Cardone had ordered the state and tribe to work out an agreement so inspectors for the attorney general could enter the casino. That happened on May 17, when state inspectors found the casino offered paper-based bingo, electronic “card minders” for up to 90 bingo cards, pull-tabs and “thousands of slot machines operating ‘electronic bingo.’” The games violate state law and the federal Restoration Act, the state alleges in its lawsuit.
As a Class II game, bingo generally operates beyond the reach of the state. But in its lawsuit, Texas claims it has a right to enforce its laws on the Tiguas under a provision in the federal Restoration Act.
Last April, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals concluded the Obama administration was correct in allowing Class II games, in a ruling concerning the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe in Massachusetts.
But Texas is located the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has not ruled on the issue regarding the Tiguas. The court’s decision could resolve the issue at last.
Hearings have not yet been scheduled.
