I think there’s going to be robust regulation regardless,” she said. “Does this mean that there is less oversight, or is this going to be a more poorly regulated facility because the state isn’t performing that function? I would say, not really.

“Compacts are really only supposed to govern the conduct of Class III gaming and are not intended as a mechanism for the state to start pressing its policies onto tribal governments,” Homer said.Īlthough the tribe will no longer be under the state’s gaming regulation, that doesn’t mean there won’t be an abundance of regulatory oversight.Īll gaming on Indigenous land in the United States operates under a tribal gaming commission, which Homer said is on the casino floor daily making sure that cash handling, staff licensing, surveillance and other processes comply with the tribe’s regulations. In California, she said, tribal gaming compacts often include stipulations related to child support enforcement or environmental policies. and former NIGC vice chair, said that moving away from a state gaming compact can increase sovereignty and self-governance. Homer, a tribal gaming attorney in Washington D.C. 3, said a spokesperson with the federal agency.Įlizabeth L. The agreement with the NIGC was signed Jan. 21, the state and tribe agreed the regulatory role would permanently shift to the NIGC and the tribe would no longer need to reimburse California for regulatory costs, a spokesperson for Gov. With California and the tribe unable to reach agreement in the years since, Mazzeti said Rincon entered into an interim arrangement known as a secretarial procedure that allowed it to operate its casino under federal approval instead of state approval. Supreme Court, which let stand a lower court ruling that California violated federal tribal gaming law by demanding casinos make payments into the Indian Gaming Special Distribution Fund in exchange for the ability to add more slot machines. In 2011, the lawsuit advanced to the U.S. Arnold Schwarzenegger claiming that his negotiations with tribes were unconstitutional and unfair.

Then, in 2004 - the same year Rincon opened its casino, Harrah’s Resort Southern California near Valley Center - the tribe filed a lawsuit against then-Gov.

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