U.S. Curbs Indian Use of Video Gambling : Regulation: Panel says tribes may not install devices at bingo halls without approval of state authorities. California opposes such machines.

A federal commission has ruled that the nation’s Indian tribes may not use video gambling machines without the approval of state authorities.

In long-awaited regulations, published Thursday in the Federal Register, the National Indian Gaming Commission rejected the pleas of tribes that some of the lucrative gambling machines be classified as mere “technological aids” to mild forms of wagering, such as bingo, over which the states have no control.

Tribal attorneys vowed to go to court to block the regulations, which will take effect in 30 days. If not overturned, they could unleash raids by federal authorities against reservations that use slot machine-type devices without state compacts.

“There is going to be a lawsuit,” said Howard Dickstein, a Sacramento attorney who represents several tribes.

California Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren hailed the commission’s tough stance as an endorsement of his call last year for a crackdown on illegal gambling on Indian land.

“These regulations . . . respect the principles of federalism and the role of the states in regulating gambling within their borders,” Lungren said.

Video gambling machines have been the subject of controversy--and confusion--in many states, particularly California and Arizona.

Encouraged by Lungren, sheriff’s deputies in San Diego and Fresno counties seized nearly 400 machines last fall from four reservations. Courts ruled the raids illegal, saying federal authorities had sole jurisdiction over Indian gambling.

Federal prosecutors said they would not act against the gambling machines until the National Indian Gaming Commission issued its final regulations.

At issue was how to interpret the 1988 federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which said tribes could conduct high-stakes versions of bingo, pull tabs--and sometimes poker--without their states having a say. Tribes were supposed to negotiate with their states to set the ground rules for more serious forms of gambling, such as off-track betting, blackjack and slot machines.

But tribal attorneys argued that various gambling machines were allowed without state compacts because they were essentially automated versions of bingo, poker and pull tabs.

In releasing the 13-page regulations, commission Chairman Tony Hope said that gambling proponents had misinterpreted the law to get an “unfair competitive advantage” by using slot machines in states, such as California, where they are banned.

“Some of the lawyers for the tribes feel like they’re entitled to everything on the table and a few things that aren’t,” Hope said.

The commission’s action is likely to shift the battle over the scope of Indian gambling from Washington to states where compact negotiations are under way.

In California, about 20 tribes have petitioned for the right to conduct wide-ranging Las Vegas-style gambling. But Lungren reiterated Thursday that his office, which is handling the negotiations, will not agree to slots and other gambling “clearly illegal under state law.”

The stalemate is expected to lead to tribal lawsuits against the state.

“Slot machines are the most lucrative form (of gambling),” said Dickstein, whose clients include the Table Mountain Rancheria, which this week got back 93 video machines seized by Fresno County sheriff’s deputies.

“It’s not coincidental that . . . it’s just those games that they are trying to prohibit . . . primed by Nevada lawyers and lobbyists.”

Table Mountain will continue to use its gambling machines until the federal regulations go into effect in 30 days, he said, and then hope that courts further delay implementation of the rules.

Oversight of the nation’s burgeoning $1-billion Indian gambling industry has been beset by confusion, in large part because of long delays in forming the Indian Gaming Commission. The panel was authorized by Congress under the 1988 Indian Gaming Act, but it took 2 1/2 years to appoint the three commissioners.

Although the slot machines regulations were the most pressing chore facing the panel, it must adopt several more sets of rules to become fully operational. The Interior Department recently announced formation of an Indian gambling task force to monitor the tribal enterprises in the interim.