Court OKs Barona Indian Bid to Oust Bingo Operator

A federal judge Thursday invalidated a controversial contract between the Barona Indians and the management company which had operated the embattled bingo games at the reservation in Lakeside.

The ruling by Judge Howard Turrentine paves the way for the Barona Indians to hire a new management company to resume the high-stakes bingo games--if the reservation wants to get back in the bingo business at all, said Art Bunce, the Indians’ attorney.

Turrentine’s summary judgment Thursday came down on the side of the Barona Indians, who argued that their 1983 contract with American Management and Amusement Inc., was invalid because it had never been approved by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).

The Barona Indians and American Management had a falling out earlier this year over promised bingo profits that never materialized, and the admission by the bingo manager at the time, Stewart Siegel, that he had rigged games that bled off nearly $100,000 to shills, or players he planted in the audience specifically to win the fixed games. Siegel is awaiting sentencing.

The Indians sued American Management, contending breach of the contract including allegations that the company kept a double set of books, and arguing that the contract between the Indians and the company was void anyway because it had never received federal approval.

Monty McIntyre, attorney for American Management, argued before Turrentine that his clients had submitted the contract to the BIA for approval in 1981, and that at the time, BIA officials said their approval was not necessary.

Several amendments to the contract were made in 1983, which were not reviewed by the BIA.

Earlier this year, the BIA issued guidelines stating that bingo contracts must first be approved by the agency.

But Bunce successfully argued before Turrentine that, based on an 1871 law, the BIA was required to approve all contracts with Indians “for services relative to their lands.” Bingo fell under such provisions, he said, and the BIA was remiss in 1981 in not approving the contract.

“The BIA was giving out poor advice in the early ‘80s when it was telling people that contracts (for bingo operations) were not within the scope of what had to be approved,” Bunce said. “The courts have since proven the BIA to be wrong, and the BIA (with its newest guidelines) is now following those court decisions.”

Bunce said the tribal council began soliciting requests several weeks ago from other bingo management companies, and that the council will, starting today, begin screening the applicants.

The full tribal membership “will consider the most promising prospects and probably choose one,” Bunce said, although he then added that he had “no idea what the general membership will say” about restarting bingo.

The tribe owns a $3 million bingo hall that was built by American Management.

McIntyre could not be reached for comment Thursday, but said previously that “the Indians are trying to deny AMA’s right to operate the business, not because of its own actions, but because of someone else’s failure to act--notably, the Bureau of Indian Affairs.”

He said that if his clients lost the case, they would appeal the decision.

High-stakes Indian reservation bingo, free of state regulations that limit non-Indian bingo to $250 payoffs, currently is played at the Rincon and Sycuan Indian reservations.