NATIVE AMERICANS | LAW

Rolling the Dice under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act

Sovereignty in gambling is not just about the freedom to bet, but the right to govern the stakes

In 1976, a significant legal decision by the U.S. Supreme Court laid the groundwork for Native American tribes to run casinos on their lands (although the case itself wasn’t initially about casinos) — Bryan v. Itasca County (1976). It involved Russell Bryan, a Native American from Minnesota, who was being taxed by his county. So, the Supreme Court decided that the local county couldn’t tax personal property on the reservation. This ruling also clarified that while states could oversee criminal issues and civil disputes in these areas, they couldn’t regulate everything on reservations. This opened the possibility for tribes to start bingo and casino operations on their lands. By 1979, the Seminole Tribe in Florida opened the first tribal casino offering high-stakes bingo to both Native Americans and others.

A Number of the California Tribes — among them, the Cabazon and Morongo Bands — began running bingo and poker games on their respective lands during the 1980s to whoever wanted to come in. The state of California attempted to shut down the operations, citing violation of state gambling laws. The U.S. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled, in California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, that the California statutes had been more directed at regulating gambling than…