The Tigua Indians say their Speaking Rock Entertainment Center in El Paso, Texas is a legal operation. Throughout the facility are messages that thank patrons for their “donations” and posted rules for “donation sweepstakes.” Several of the gaming machines are labeled “Sweepstakes.” Tribal officials note people make voluntary donations to play and are not required to buy anything.
But at a federal court hearing before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso on March 10, the Texas attorney general’s office sought a contempt ruling against the tribe, claiming it continues to defy state law and court orders. Assistant Attorney General William Deane said, “This is in fact an illegal gambling operation. We’re going to show it is in violation of the injunction.”
Cardone referred to the two-decade legal case, State of Texas vs. Ysleta del Sur Pueblo et al, as “20 years of wrangling.” She stated, “I want this case to end,” and scheduled a full hearing in October. If Cardone determines the Tiguas are running an illegal gambling operation, not just “sweepstakes” gaming, the tribe could be fined for every day the operation has been open.
Tribal lawyer Dolph Barn-house compared the games to those at VFW halls and to McDonald’s peel-off games. He said, “The attorney general doesn’t like sweepstakes, and they don’t like the fact that they are permissible in Texas, as anyone who has gone to a McDonald’s knows.” Tribal Lieutenant Governor Carlos Hisa added, “When you look at a beautiful car, you think it’s a Ferrari, but when you open the hood, you see it’s got a Ford engine. It’s what’s inside that determines it. The tribe is confident that what we are doing is legal, and we’ll pursue it to the end.”
Cardone also told both sides to work out a date for a video crew to enter the tribe’s entertainment centers, following a request from the state to obtain proof the Tiguas have continued to violate state law. In court documents filed on April 25, the state argued, “The reason videotaping of the operations at Speaking Rock and Socorro is so important is that the determination of whether a sweepstakes game is an illegal lottery is not determined by the software alone—it is the casino-like atmosphere combined with inconsistent oral and nonverbal communications that drives the final resolution.”
In response, Tigua attorneys filed a motion on April 28, stating, “Videotaping as the state has proposed will be extremely intrusive, disruptive, and is unnecessary given the state cannot articulate an evidentiary basis upon which the videotape would ever be admissible.”
The tribe received federal recognition in 1987 in exchange for agreeing to not have gambling. The legal battle dates back to 1999, when George W. Bush was governor and then-Texas Attorney General John Cornyn sued the Tiguas, claiming the tribe’s Speaking Rock Casino violated state law. The tribe closed the casino in 2002—but reopened as the Speaking Rock Entertainment Center.
At its peak, more than 700 people worked at the Speaking Rock Casino, which generated $5 million a month for the tribe. After it closed, the Tiguas hired Jack Abramoff for $4.2 million to lobby his Washington connections to get the casino reopened. That resulted in nothing for the Tiguas and prison time for Abramoff.
The motion for contempt includes evidence discovered in an undercover probe in 2012. “It was clear that all the customers observed were there to gamble for cash and not to simply make cash donations,” the motion states. Barn-house attacked that evidence, noting, “We have individuals for the state going onto a federal enclave and conducting an undercover operation that flies in the face of this court’s order and civil procedure. My client is a sovereign nation with rights of sovereignty immunity, and those can only be waived by Congress under special circumstances.”
Currently the renamed Speaking Rock Entertainment Center and a second gaming hall in nearby Socorro now employ 300 people and provide 75 percent of the tribe’s income, generating matching funds for $24 million in grants, according to the tribe.
Hisa said, “We’re not here to work against the state. We want to negotiate a solution that will be beneficial to everyone. All we want is parity” with the more than 250 tribes around the country offer gambling.
