What Is the Federal Authority for Tribal Gambling Operations?

As a result of these laws, a state’s regulation of tribal activities-including casinos-generally is limited to what is authorized under (1) federal law and (2) federally approved agreements between tribes and a state. In the last century, judicial rulings began to recognize tribes’ sovereign immunity from lawsuits as one aspect of this sovereignty. Certain jurisdictional rights were declared to be ones with which no state could interfere. were “independent political communities” with “original natural rights” that preceded European colonization. Supreme Court decisions determined that tribes in the U.S. Constitution reserved for the federal government the power to “regulate commerce” with foreign nations, among states, and with Indian tribes. Indian tribes possess a special status under U.S. State-Tribal Relations What Is Tribal Sovereignty? We also discuss proposed amendments to several tribal-state compacts that-collectively-would expand the industry significantly in Southern California.

In this report, we answer key questions related to (1) the history of tribal casino expansion in California and (2) payments from the casinos to state and local governments. Only Nevada now has a larger casino industry. In 2006, industry estimates suggest that tribal casinos in California took in around $7 billion of annual revenues-about as much as all other legalized gambling sectors in the state combined. This court ruling, known as the Cabazon decision, set in motion a series of federal and state actions-including two ballot propositions-that dramatically expanded tribal casino operations in California and other states.

Supreme Court decided that neither the State of California nor Riverside County could regulate the bingo and card game operations of the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians and the Morongo Band of Cahuilla Mission Indians. In this report, we answer key questions about tribal casinos in California and their payments to state and local governments. Now, California’s casino industry outranks all but Nevada’s in size. Supreme Court decision involving two California tribes set in motion a series of federal and state actions that dramatically expanded tribal casinos here and in other states.

February 2007 California Tribal Casinos: Questions and Answers

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