Stakes Will Get Higher In ‘96 Court To Rule On Slot Machines As Indian Casino Gambling Booms

The new year could be a pivotal one in the state’s evolving relationship with Indian tribes who are going into the booming business of casino gambling.

In Eastern Washington, 1996 could bring federal court resolution of a festering dispute over whether to allow slot machines already in use at tribal casinos.

Meanwhile, on the West Side, reservation gambling halls which focus on table games are expected to keep raking in profits.

By the end of 1996, Indian gambling will be the single largest gaming operation in the state, the Washington State Gambling Commission predicts. The handle from Indian casinos is expected to outstrip the state’s $1.6 billion take from lottery, horse racing and all other forms of gambling combined.

“Next year will be a very big year for Indian gaming in this state,” said John McCoy, an assistant attorney general who represents the gambling commission.

Just how big could be decided in federal courts by the end of the year.

Walk into Indian casinos on each side of the state and the difference is striking.

In Western Washington, the emphasis is on table games, such as blackjack.

But Eastern Washington casinos ring with the payoff bells and flashing lights of hundreds of slot machines, the renowned “one-armed bandits” found in Nevada casinos.

Two recent lawsuits are expected to settle the question of the scope of gambling allowed in reservation casinos. The state filed the cases in federal court in November against the Spokane Indians and 10 Western Washington tribes - with the tribes’ blessings.

U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle will decide whether the state can ban devices such as slot machines or if it must negotiate to allow them.

“A ruling would give some legal basis for the other suits, so we’re not always hung up on what’s the scope of permitted gaming,” said Jim Shively, an assistant U.S. attorney who has handled several gambling-related cases.

The state argues that slot machines are illegal under both state and federal law. But the tribes argue that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 requires the state to allow them, citing the range of gambling in Washington and a provision of the law that calls for allowing forms of gambling already available in a state.

On another matter, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule early this year in a Florida case that seeks to determine whether a state must allow itself - as a sovereign entity - to be sued by Indian tribes seeking more lucrative forms of gambling than the state allows. Historically, tribes also have been dealt with as sovereign entities.

A similar case is pending in federal court in Washington.

“I think 1996 is going to be the year a lot of these cases will be resolved,” said Frank Miller, director of the state gambling commission. “It’s going to come down to a court interpretation, and I believe it will be a very pivotal year for tribal gaming.”

John Kieffer, chairman of the Spokane Tribe’s gambling commission, did not return calls for comment. John Dick, Colville Tribes gambling commission chairman, was not in his office last week.

The tribes, struggling with poverty and unemployment levels that are well above statewide averages, see reservation gambling as a way to achieve economic self-sufficiency.

The 1988 law requires tribes and states to negotiate compacts for gambling.

The state has completed gambling compacts with 16 Western Washington tribes. Nine casinos are operating on the coastal side of the state and three more are expected to come on line this year.

East of the Cascades, the Spokanes and Colvilles operate an estimated 2,000 slot machines in six casinos. The national gambling industry estimates that each machine brings in between $200 and $800 a day.

“The time is beginning to run short,” said Scott Crowell, a Bellevue, Wash., attorney representing the Spokane Tribe, of the long-running dispute over the lucrative devices.

Crowell predicts the Supreme Court case, which pits the Seminole tribe against the state of Florida, “will uphold the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in its entirety and allow the tribes to proceed with court-mediated resolution” - allowing the slot machines.

But the Spokanes, who have pressed for Nevada-style casino gambling for more than five years, don’t trust the state to live up to a federal judge’s decision, Crowell said.

The way the lawsuits are crafted shows the Spokanes are right to be wary, he said.

“If the court rules the tribes are entitled to select the forms of gambling, or they are favored in a mediator’s rulings, the state has built into the rules the ability to walk away and leave the tribes in a lurch,” he said.

“As long as the state takes that position, this process does not stand much hope of bringing this issue to final resolution.”

But Miller said the latest lawsuits will settle the slot-machine question.

“Our position is we have no authority to negotiate machines. We believe we don’t; the tribes believe we do,” he said. “It’s federal law looking at state law.

“If the result is the state has to begin negotiating for machines, obviously, we’ll negotiate.”

Eastern Washington tribes are pushing for expanded gambling because poverty, hunger and unemployment are staples of reservation life, Crowell said.

Portions of gambling revenues are dedicated to tribal social service agencies, and many casino workers are tribal members.

“The reason the tribes are fighting so hard is because Indian gambling has proved itself to be a viable part of the answer to truly turning around conditions on the reservations,” Crowell said.