The El Paso, Texas-based Tigua Tribe announced it will stop offering sweepstakes games and instead begin offering bingo this week to comply with the ruling of a federal judge. State Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office claimed the sweepstakes games, considered games of chance, are illegal in Texas. However, the tribe asserted as a sovereign nation it had federal authority that overruled state law. In April, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone rejected the Tiguas’ position and gave the tribe 60 days to remove them from tribal entertainment centers. Tribal attorney Dolph Barnhouse said, “We’re not going to push that deadline at all. We’re transitioning to bingo.”
Cardone also ruled the Tiguas are no longer required to get the court’s permission to offer games of chance. If the attorney general has any objections, he can raise them in court, she said. In response, the tribe passed an ordinance requiring outside police, state investigators and the news media to get permission before entering tribal lands.
Barnhouse said the Tiguas will offer traditional bingo-hall games featuring a caller who pulls balls from a hopper and announces the number while players mark cards. He said card minders and pull tabs also will be available. He noted bingo is legal in Texas so the Tiguas’ games will not violate the 1987 Restoration Act, prohibiting tribal games that are not legal under state law.
The attorney general’s office has not said how it will respond to bingo on Tigua lands. Spokeswoman Kayleigh Lovvorn said, “Unfortunately, sticking to policy, I still can’t give you any comments on the Tiguas as there is ongoing litigation. That said, case aside, according to the Lottery Commission, a specific license is needed to conduct bingo in Texas. Conducting bingo without a license is a third degree felony punishable by imprisonment of two to 10 years and a fine not to exceed $10,000.”
However, Lottery Commission spokeswoman Kelly Cripe said the agency does not have authority over the Tiguas. “Indian gaming is governed by federal treaties, and is overseen by the National Indian Gaming Commission, and largely regulated by the tribes themselves,” she stated.
Barnhouse said he has asked the attorney general to allow the NIGC to regulate gambling on Tigua lands. He said as things currently stand, it “brings uncertainty to El Paso. It brings uncertainty to the Pueblo. It brings uncertainty to the state.”
Meanwhile, Barnhouse said, “All eyes are really on the Alabama-Coushatta.” The East Texas tribe recently began offering electronic bingo machines at its 15,000 square foot Naskila Entertainment Center in Livingston, an alcohol-free casino with more than 350 bingo machines, available 24/7. It based the opening of the center on letters written last year by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Indian Gaming Commission, stating that tribe, and the Tiguas, are subject to federal—not state–jurisdiction.
But Cardone’s ruling in the Tigua case said the letters do not allow the tribes to offer all forms of Class II gaming. And documents recently filed in federal court indicate the state of Texas plans to file a “contempt motion,” asking officials to shut down the gaming center. State officials had closed the operation in 2002, claiming state law overruled federal Indian law.
The tribe once again plans to claim the federal letters allow it to legally offer Class II gaming—including regular and electronic gaming, under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. No motions have been filed to close the casino while the issue goes through the legal process.
Southern Methodist University political science Professor Cal Jillson said, “This certainly was expected. The Indian tribal leadership has attempted to fine tune, or tweak, the types of games they offer in order to satisfy the political officials in the state of Texas this time. I don’t think they’ll be successful. State officials have always been reluctant to allow gaming in the state because they are so deeply concerned about our morals.”
The Alabama-Coushattas and the Tiguas want the same rights to operate a casino as the Kickapoo Tribe, which has operated the Lucky Eagle Casino in Eagle Pass since 1996. The difference is the Kickapoos gained federal recognition earlier than the other two tribes, prior to the passage of the 1987 Restoration Act, which bans tribal games because state law does not allow casino gambling. When Texas expanded gaming beyond charitable bingo to allow the lottery and parimutuel betting, the Alabama-Coushattas and Tiguas have pushed to reopen their operations–especially as the Chickasaw Nation’s WinStar World Casino and Resort in Oklahoma and other casinos in nearby states have flourished.
At Naskila Entertainment, spokesman Chuck McDonald Said, “Things have been going good, pretty low key. We haven’t done much advertising, so it has mostly been word of mouth from the immediate area.” Regarding the state’s motion, he said, “The state has initiated this. We are optimistic. Let’s take this litigation all the way through.”
