Senate Confirms Tracie Stevens as NIGC Chair

On June 23, the Senate confirmed Tracie Stevens as chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission.

In a press statement issued upon Stevens’ confirmation, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said that she “brings to the commission a wealth of expertise and experience from a distinguished career working on both tribal government and gaming issues.”

Stevens, nominated by President Obama on April 28, 2010, is an enrolled member of the Tulalip Tribes in Washington. She most recently served as senior advisor to Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk, but she also served as senior policy analyst with the Tulalip Tribes’ government affairs office and on various state, regional and national Indian gaming-related boards and committees.

Class II Regs More Costly Than Tribes Led to Believe

National Indian Gaming Commission Regulations on Class II bingo will cost tribal casinos millions of dollars more than a flawed economic study predicted, charges the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association. 

The regulations are meant to bring more clarity and integrity to electronic bingo games.

One of the new regulations deals with the physical and communications security of the Class II games and the control of the money and operational systems. A second, the Technical Standards, pertains to the certification of the equipment and ensures the systems operate properly and remain resistant to tampering. 

OIGA Chairman David Qualls charges that the regulations were imposed without congressional oversight. Rep. Tom Cole, of Oklahoma said he too was "deeply concerned about the NIGC's ongoing reliance on flawed and incomplete data to justify irresponsible and unnecessary regulations on Indian tribes.”   

Read more here.

NIGC to Visit Soboba

Inspectors from the National Indian Gaming Commission will visit the Soboba Casino this week and talk with tribal officials, according to the Associated Press. Ongoing tensions between the tribe and the Riverside, Calif., Sheriff’s Department last week prompted Sheriff Stanley Sniff to ask the NIGC to close the casino. Read about it here .

Judge Vacates NIGC Decision Allowing Buffalo Casino

A federal judge yesterday ruled against the Seneca Nation's Buffalo Creek Casino, saying that casino gambling cannot legally take place on the nine-acre site in Buffalo, NY.

According to the Buffalo News, U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny, in a 127-page decision, vacated the earlier decision by the commissioner of the National Indian Gaming Commission to allow gambling.

It was not immediately clear whether Skretny's ruling will halt construction on the $333 million permanent casino, but it is clear that the temporary casino no longer has the legal right to operate.