Texas Supreme Court Rules State Can't Regulate E-Bingo on Reservations, Win for Tribes

On Wednesday June 15 the United States Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Indian Tribe of Texas, determining that the state cannot regulate electronic bingo on reservation lands.

The case, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Indian Tribe vs. Texas, overturns a 2020 Fifth Circuit Court determination that Texas had the ability to stop the tribe from gaming activities on their land.

“In this case, Texas contends that Congress expressly ordained that all of its gaming laws should be treated as surrogate federal law enforceable on the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Reservation,” wrote Justice Gorsuch in today’s opinion. “In the end, however, we find no evidence Congress endowed state law with anything like the power Texas claims.”

Texas claimed that the Ysleta del Sur and Alabama and Coushatta Indian Tribes of Texas Restoration Act of 1987 allows the state to prevent the three federally recognized tribes in the state from offering bingo. Meanwhile, bingo is allowed elsewhere in Texas.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-supreme-court-rules-state-213602832.html