Tribe Runs Poker Tournaments to Prod Action

The head of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma had a tournament at the tribe's southern New Mexico casino to force a decision on the legality of gambling at the casino.  The tribe held an invitation only poker tournament with a $10,000 dollar prize on Sunday at the casino off Interstate 10.  The Tribal Chairman, Jeff Houser said that the tribe will be holding poker tournaments every week, trying to prod the National Indian Gaming Commission to order the casino closed.

The order would create a legal basis that would allow the tribe to sue the commission.  An advisory opinion was received last month from a commission attorney that said that there was no basis under the federal law for the Oklahoma tribe to be able to operate a casino on the land they own at the Akela exit off I-10 close by Deming.  The location is about 500 miles away from the tribe's main governmental offices in Oklahoma.

The land was purchased by the tribe in 1998 and then taken into trust by the Interior Department for the tribe in 2002.  Currently federal law prohibits gambling on Indian Lands that were taken into trust after 1988, unless there are certain conditions.  Houser said that the poker tournament held on Sunday counts as Class 2 gaming, which the tribe contends that they should be allowed to hold at their casino.