State officials work to shut down casino-style gaming in East Texas

For the Alabama-Coushatta tribe, this could become a case of deja vu.

In 2002, a casino the Indian tribe operated in East Texas was closed by state officials who successfully argued that state law trumps national Indian law — and casino gambling isn’t allowed in Texas.

The tribe reopened a casino-like facility two months ago, after national Indian and federal officials ruled that the tribe can oversee gaming at its 10,000-acre reservation south of Livingston, about 240 miles southeast of Fort Worth.

Now, court documents filed in Lufkin’s federal court show state officials have made the first move to again shut the gaming down.

“This certainly was expected,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “The Indian tribal leadership has attempted to fine tune, or tweak, the types of games they offer in order to satisfy the political officials in the state of Texas this time.

“I don’t think they’ll be successful,” he said. “State officials have always been reluctant to allow gaming in the state because they are so deeply concerned about our morals.”

The alcohol-free, casino-like facility — called Naskila Entertainment — opened in mid-May, offering patrons a chance to spin the wheels on more than 350 machines 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“Things have been going good, pretty low key,” said Chuck McDonald, a spokesman for Naskila Entertainment. “We haven’t done much advertising, so it has mostly been word of mouth from the immediate area.

“They have had good crowds, especially on the weekends,” he said. “It has been extremely encouraging to the tribe.”

But court documents recently filed with the federal court in Lufkin indicate the state of Texas plans to file a “contempt motion” asking officials to again shut down the gaming center.

The tribe, meanwhile, wants to prove in court that last year’s ruling by top Indian officials gives them the legal footing to run Class II gaming — generally bingo and electronic versions of bingo — under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

State officials declined to comment on the issue.

“It is our policy not to comment on any pending or ongoing litigation and so we cannot comment on this at the time,” said Kayleigh Lovvom, a spokeswoman with the Texas attorney general’s office.

Bells and whistles

In May, the tribe opened a newly revamped facility in the same building previously used for the casino-like gaming, about 17 miles east of Livingston on U.S. 190.

Naskila Entertainment offers more than 350 devices that look, act and sound like slot machines but are actually electronic bingo machines. There also is a new restaurant, Timbers Grille.

The 15,000-square-foot facility with a capacity of 777 people offers smoking and non-smoking sections, officials say.

They don’t call it a casino but acknowledge that their machines, like others on Indian reservations, are designed to look like traditional slot machines found in Las Vegas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and elsewhere.

They have similar bells, whistles and designs. But the machines in some form or fashion show or run bingo patterns with every spin.

The site’s gambling options are technically classified as Class II gaming, which allows electronic bingo — which comes in many shapes and forms — but does not allow full-blown casino gaming.

Most of the games are nickle or dime machines, although there’s a “high-roller” wall that offers $2 and $5 machines.

Legal standing

This next round between state and Indian officials has been expected.

“This is a fight … that stretches back into early Texas history,” Jillson said.

The Alabama-Coushatta and Tigua tribes have long sought to allow gaming on their reservations, just as the Kickapoo tribe has operated the Lucky Eagle Casino in Eagle Pass since 1996.

The difference is the tribes’ legal standing.

The Alabama-Coushatta and Tigua tribes gained federal recognition in 1987, when the law stated tribes can’t do anything the rest of the citizens of the state can’t do, such as gamble.

The Kickapoo tribe gained recognition earlier, when the same condition was not in place.

So the Kickapoo tribe moved forward with a casino and, when Texas expanded gaming beyond charitable bingo to allow the lottery and pari-mutuel gambling, the other tribes pushed for more opportunities.

The Alabama-Coushatta and Tigua tribes briefly operated successful casino-like facilities until they were forced to close them in 2002.

They’ve worked to reopen since then, especially as tribes in nearby states opened casinos that have flourished, such as the Chickasaw Nation’s WinStar World Casino and Resort in Oklahoma.

Court documents

Court documents filed this month in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Lufkin show that state officials reopened this case in June and recently indicated their “intention to file a motion for contempt,” which could close the casino-like facility.

In response, tribal officials state that the U.S. Department of Interior and the National Indian Gaming Commission determined last year “that the Tribe is regulated under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act … and therefore may engage in ‘Class II’ gaming, even if it violates state law,” court documents show.

In a separate case, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone — who ruled that sweepstakes games operated at Tigua gaming centers were illegal — recently rejected that argument.

As for the Alabama-Coushatta tribe, before officials opened the facility in Livingston, Indian officials checked with the state “which agreed to forebear any enforcement action until after inspecting the gaming activities,” according to the documents.

After the inspection, state officials filed paperwork with the court to move forward with the case.

No one has filed a motion to close the casino while the issue goes through the court process. Now, both sides are working on a scheduling order for the case, which could take months to resolve.

“The state has initiated this,” McDonald said, adding that the issue of whether the tribe has the authority to run the casino-like facility needs to be resolved.

“We are optimistic,” he said. “Let’s take this litigation all the way through.”

This story was originally published July 26, 2016 at 3:18 PM with the headline "State officials work to shut down casino-style gaming in East Texas."