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Texas Indian Casino |
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| Each of Texas's three federally
recognized tribes operates a casino. The Kickapoo
Traditional Tribe of Texas has the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle
Casino in Eagle Pass, the Tigua tribe of the Ysleta del
Sur Pueblo has the Speaking Rock Entertainment Center in
El Paso, and the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe has Naskila
Gaming in Livingston. The latter two have been the
subject of extensive litigation, with the state arguing
that both are illegal. |
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| In the 1980s, court decisions and
the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) established the
rights of Indian tribes to operate any kind of gambling
permitted elsewhere in the state. Taking advantage of
the legality of bingo in Texas, the Tiguas opened their
Speaking Rock high-stakes bingo hall in 1993. Over the
following year, its offerings expanded to include poker
and "Tigua 21", a non-banking variant of blackjack. The
Tiguas sought a compact with the state under the IGRA to
allow casino-style, or "class 3" gaming, citing the
state's acceptance of a lottery and parimutuel betting,
but the state refused to negotiate. Courts sided with
Texas, ruling that the Restoration Act that gave federal
recognition to the Tiguas and Alabama-Coushatta in 1987
specifically forbade gambling, and took precedence over
the IGRA. |
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| Despite the ruling, neither federal
nor state authorities tried to close the casino, and the
tribe expanded operations further by adding slot
machines in 1996. Republican Governor George W. Bush
asked Attorney General Dan Morales in 1998 to take legal
action, but Morales, a Democrat, said that
responsibility laid with local and federal officials.
Morales was succeeded in 1999, however, by Republican
John Cornyn, who proceeded with a federal lawsuit
against the tribe. The suit was successful, and the
Speaking Rock Casino closed its doors in February 2002. |
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| The Kickapoo casino opened in 1996,
offering bingo, poker, its own blackjack variant, and
electronic pull-tab dispensers designed to look and
operate like slot machines. Bush questioned the legality
of these "Lucky Tab II" machines at the same time as he
was pushing for action against the Tigua casino, so the
tribe filed a preemptive lawsuit, and won a ruling that
they qualified as class 2 devices. The original
facility, constructed of modular buildings, was replaced
in October 2004 with a new 100,000-square-foot casino
and an arena. |
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| The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe had
voted against gambling operations in 1994 on moral
grounds, but it reversed that decision in 1999 after
seeing the success of the Grand Casino Coushatta, run by
a related tribe in Louisiana. The tribe opened its
"Entertainment Center" in November 2001, with slots,
blackjack, and poker, even as the Tiguas were appealing
their loss in court. Cornyn filed suit against the
Alabama-Coushatta two months later, citing the
Restoration Act. Courts sided with Cornyn, and the
casino was closed in July 2002. |
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| In 2015, the National Indian Gaming
Commission issued an opinion that the Tigua and
Alabama-Coushatta tribes could legally conduct gaming,
contradicting the earlier court rulings. This led to the
Alabama-Coushatta reopening their casino, and the Tiguas
converting their facility, which had been operating as a
sweepstakes parlor, back into a casino. |
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