U.S. Tightens Scrutiny of Tribal Gambling Halls

Frustrated by long delays in getting a National Indian Gaming Commission activated, the U.S. Department of the Interior is issuing its own new regulations--to take effect immediately--designed to tighten scrutiny of tribal gambling halls across the nation.

Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan is scheduled to announce today the formation of a Gaming Action Team to implement more thorough background checks on gambling promoters and to take legal steps to “shut down, as soon as possible,” illegal gambling operations.

The task force team will also work with the Justice Department to bring about “vigorous criminal prosecution of crimes involving gaming,” according to a directive signed by Lujan.

Such a more aggressive stance from Washington has been urged by law enforcement agencies in California and other states, whose recent efforts to seize slot machines on reservations have been thwarted by court rulings that only federal authorities have jurisdiction over tribal gambling.

In February, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Huff in San Diego ruled that San Diego County sheriff’s deputies acted illegally when they seized slot-type machines at three local reservations. Huff ruled that the deputies lacked the jurisdiction to enforce state gambling laws on tribal lands.

A federal judge in Fresno similarly ruled that only federal authorities could carry out such raids, even if the gambling devices were illegal in California.

Attorneys for the Sycuan, Barona and Viejas reservations argued successfully that the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, passed by Congress, gave the federal government exclusive jurisdiction over gambling on tribal lands.

The San Diego County deputies raided the reservations following a directive from California Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren to local law enforcement agencies to crack down on illegal gambling on reservations. Deputies descended on the three reservations in October and seized 288 slot-type machines.

Huff ordered the gaming machines returned. Her ruling marked the third time in recent years in which a federal judge has ruled raids by San Diego County sheriff’s deputies on Indian lands illegal.

Federal law enforcement officials throughout the nation had been anticipating today’s ruling by the gaming commission, hoping it will clearly define what types of gambling are legal on reservations.

“It’s a turn in the (Interior) department’s attitude toward its responsibilities in Indian gaming,” acknowledged department spokesman Bob Walker, “going from ‘that’s not our problem’ to a recommendation we need to play a much stronger role . . . to see that those involved in Indian gaming will play by the rules.”

From the introduction of high-stakes bingo on reservations more than a decade ago, the Bureau of Indian Affairs--which falls within the Interior Department--was supposed to review all contracts between tribes and non-Indian gambling promoters.

But the understaffed BIA was never sure how to monitor such enterprises and virtually abandoned serious oversight efforts following the 1988 passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which called for a new commission to take over the chore. It took more than two years, however, just to appoint the three members of the commission and the panel is not expected to be fully operational until this fall.

“Part of what this is about is filling the gap between now and when the commission is in gear,” Walker said Wednesday. “A lot of local officials and members of Congress have been complaining . . . there seems to be a void (in regulation).”

The new Interior Department “action team” will be headed by Hilda Manuel, an attorney who is a member of the Tohono O’odham tribe in Arizona.

Widespread confusion has surrounded Indian gambling in recent years as isolated bingo halls have given way to full-scale casinos in many states, with some 150 tribal gambling enterprises now grossing a total of $1 billion or more. While the revenue has brought new housing and other improvements to once impoverished reservations, officials in many states have complained that gambling promoters are offering games far beyond those allowed under the 1988 law.

While the Interior Department is promising tougher policing now, it has no enforcement powers itself, so it will need cooperation from the Justice Department.

While much of Lujan’s directive covers steps to monitor gambling that may be illegal, it also calls for the Interior Department to begin reviewing many Indian tribes’ practice of distributing gambling profits directly to members.

The Interior Department has always encouraged tribes to use the profits for permanent community improvements rather than merely divide the money. But the department has never enforced its rule that all such “per cap” arrangements get federal approval.