Tribes Can’t Have Slots, Judge Rules Federal Suit On Spokanes, Colvilles Pending
Slot machines are illegal in Washington and therefore cannot be negotiated in gambling compacts between the state and Indian tribes, a federal judge has ruled.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle resolves a “friendly lawsuit” the state filed against eight tribes in November 1995 in a dispute over the gaming devices, which the tribes contended are allowed under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
Van Sickle’s ruling, made public Monday, accepted the state’s argument that Washington law expressly prohibits slot machines and other forms of machine gaming and that, therefore, the devices are not permitted under the federal law.
The tribes have asked to meet with state officials to clarify which games are “on the table” in future negotiations “and we’re certainly going to do that,” Jim Pharris, a senior assistant attorney general in Olympia said Tuesday.
The ruling does not affect two tribes that operate slots in their casinos, the Spokanes and Colvilles, which did not enter into the lawsuit, Pharris said.
The Spokane Tribe of Indians and the Colville Confederated Tribes operate several thousand slot machines - illegally, the state claims - on their Eastern Washington reservations.
A separate federal lawsuit on the legality of those gambling devices is pending in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Van Sickle’s ruling clarified interpretations of the 1988 federal law that opened up reservation gaming, as well as defining what types of games and gaming devices are negotiable under state law, Pharris said.
“The question was really … whether slot machines were prohibited or not,” Pharris said. “All parties now know which games or gaming devices are to be included in, or excluded from, compacts negotiated by the state and tribes.”
Van Sickle also ruled that electronic slots - which are activated by pressing buttons - are illegal.
Tribal leaders accepted a state proposal to resolve the dispute with a lawsuit at a 1994 meeting with then-Gov. Mike Lowry and Attorney General Christine Gregoire.
The state has entered into compacts with nearly two dozen tribes under agreements authorizing the tribes to offer various forms of casino-style gambling. None of the compacts allow for slot machines.
The tribes contended that because the state offers a wide range of legal gaming - such as the lottery - it is required by the federal law to consider tribal proposals for slot machines in negotiating the compacts.
But the state contended that it was not the intent of Congress to allow gaming activities prohibited by state law to occur on Indian lands, and that such activities are not to be addressed in the compacts.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit were The Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribes, the Muckleshoot Tribes, the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, the Puyallup Tribe, the Suquamish Tribe, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and the Upper Skagit Indian Tribes.
xxxx WHAT IT MEANS The ruling does not affect two tribes that operate casino slots, the Spokanes and Colvilles. A separate federal lawsuit on the legality of those devices is pending in federal appeals court.