Who Will Regulate Tribal Gambling If Initiative Passes? Measure Leaves State And Federal Oversight In Doubt

Tribes pushing expanded gambling on Indian land promise federal and tribal enforcement will keep the games clean, even though state oversight is virtually blinded by Initiative 651.

The gambling initiative on the November ballot removes all limits on types of games, number or location of casinos, hours of operations and size of bets. Credit could be allowed in casinos. So could alcohol and firearms.

Meanwhile, the state would have to give up to 48 hours notice before inspecting tribal gambling records or books.

In an analysis of I-651, the gambling commission decided its powers would be so limited it would be better off dropping tribal gambling regulation altogether.

Tribes say they are up to the regulatory task. They already run their own schools, jails, courts and social services programs. They certainly can run casinos, initiative backers say.

Tribes also say federal regulations control gambling on tribal lands.

But anyone who says the feds will pick up the slack if the state is pushed out of the picture is dreaming, state regulators say.

The National Indian Gambling Commission, which tribes say will help keep casino operations clean, is woefully under-staffed and under-funded, said Jonathon McCoy, state assistant attorney general assigned to gambling matters.

“They are kind of embarrassed about it, and it’s not their fault that they don’t have the tools they need to do the job,” McCoy said. “But that doesn’t change the fact that they don’t have the staff to regulate gambling as it exists today, let alone if it’s expanded.”

The commission has only one “field representative” in all of Idaho, Washington and Oregon.

“It would be misleading to call him an investigator or an inspector,” said Fred Stuckwish, executive director of the commission. “We don’t really have any of those.”

The commission has prosecuted only one gambling violation in Washington state since its creation in 1988, Stuckwish said. And it took three years to get the job done.

The commission doesn’t even have the authority to regulate aspects of slot machine gambling allowed under I-651. While they can conduct background checks on tribal bingo operators, the feds have no authority to investigate casino staff.

“Slot machines and all that - we don’t cover background checks in that area,” Stuckwish said.

Under I-651, the state could do background investigations of “key personnel.” However, tribes would determine who should be scrutinized and would provide the information for the investigations.

Tribes pushing I-651 also say tribal gambling commissions will keep a close watch.

But tribal authorities would have no jurisdiction over violations by non-tribal members, who both work in and patronize tribal casinos.

With the state largely out of the picture, non-tribal offenders would take the slow boat to prosecution via the federal commission, McCoy said.

“They have trouble with big crimes let alone little day-to-day stuff that could hurt tribal communities. It really takes a cooperative arrangement between state and tribal enforcement to work.”

The state has a full-time staff of more than 16 people overseeing eight casinos now in operating on the West Side. Inspectors have immediate access to any aspect of tribal gambling operations.

The state’s regulatory authority over the casinos is established in agreements called compacts negotiated with the tribes.

The compacts ban firearms or credit in casinos, and restrict the hours of operation, types of games, size of bets, and more.

Tribes also pay 2 percent of gambling revenues to local communities to cover costs for security or other needed services. No such payment would be required under I-651.

Russell Lafountaine, campaign manager, has said repeatedly that there is no crime in Indian County casinos.

Monica Gutierrez, manager of her family’s Double Eagle casino in Chewelah, said there is a “healthy, family atmosphere” at the gambling hall.

But tribal casinos have seen their share of crime, just as non-tribal gambling halls have.

In Minnesota, Darrel “Chip” Wadena, the chairman of the White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians for nearly two decades and a powerful Indian leader, was indicted this month for allegedly stealing more than $400,000 through bid rigging on the band’s Shooting Star casino, according to published reports.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Gambling initiative Initiative 651 will be on the statewide ballot Nov. 7. It is sponsored by the Spokane, Puyallup and Shoalwater Bay tribes. The initiative would: Allow expanded gambling, including slot machines, on tribal land on and off reservations. Remove all state restrictions on the size or number of gambling halls, size of bets placed, hours of operation, or type of gambling. Greatly reduce state regulation of tribal gambling.