Chukchansi v. NIGC Complaint

Here is the complaint in Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians v. Stevens (D. D.C.):

Chukchansi Complaint

An excerpt:

This is a civil action against the United States National Indian Gaming Commission and its officials (collectively, the “Chairwoman,” the “Commission,” the “NIGC,” or “Defendants”) under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (“IGRA”), 25 U.S.C. § 2701 et seq., and the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. §§ 551, et seq. and 701, et seq., seeking mandamus and related relief compelling the Commission to comply with its statutory duty to approve and publish gaming ordinance amendments submitted by the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians (“Tribe”).

“Is Texas Hold ‘Em a Game of Chance?”: Georgetown Law Journal

Here’s a new article in the Georgetown Law Journal asking whether poker is a game of chance or skill, with implications on the enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. Here is the abstract:

In 2006, Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), prohibiting the knowing receipt of funds for the purpose of unlawful gambling. The principal consequence of the UIGEA was the shutdown of the burgeoning online poker industry in the United States. Courts determine whether a game is prohibited gambling by asking whether skill or luck is the “dominant factor” in the game. We argue that courts’ conception of a dominant factor— whether chance swamps the effect of skill in playing a single hand of poker—is unduly narrow. We develop four alternative tests to distinguish the impact of skill and luck, and we test these predictions against a unique data set of thousands of hands of Texas Hold ‘Em poker played for sizable stakes online before the passage of the UIGEA. The results of each test indicate that skill is an important influence in determining outcomes in poker. Our tests provide a better framework for how courts should analyze the importance of skill in games, and our results suggest that courts should reconsider the legal status of poker.

View .pdf for full Article.

Now we’ll have to fend off the online gaming spammers inundating our comments….

New Scholarship on Allowing Tribes to Declare Bankruptcy

Here is a new student article, “Shooting Craps: How Denying Tribal Casinos Bankruptcy Relief Ensures that Everyone Loses and a New Rule to Provide Potential Chapter 11 Relief,” available on SSRN. It will be published in the Temple Law Review.

Here is the abstract:

In August 2012, the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California dismissed a Chapter 11 petition filed by the Santa Ysabel Resort and Casino finding that the casino was an ineligible debtor under the Bankruptcy Code. This Essay critiques the decision of the Bankruptcy Court and suggests that tribal casinos should not be summarily excluded from filing for bankruptcy. This is because the federal Indian Gaming and Regulatory Act dictates the corporate form of Indian casinos but potentially excludes them as eligible debtors.

Instead, this Essay proposes a new rule that courts should use when evaluating Tribal Casinos as semi-sovereign entities in Chapter 11 proceedings. Ultimately, this rule would allow certain tribal casinos to avail themselves of bankruptcy protection while still complying with federal law.

Saginaw Chippewa and Nottawaseppi Huron Potawatomi Chairs Op/Ed on Lansing Casino

Here.

Pauma Band Largely Prevails in Gaming Compact Suit against California

Here are the materials in Pauma Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pauma & Yuima Reservation v. State of California (S.D. Cal.):

Pauma DCT Order

Pauma Motion for Summary J

California Opposition

Pauma Reply

California Cross-Motion

Pauma Opposition

California Reply

NIGC General Counsel Confirms Legality of Poarch Band Casino Operations

Here:

NIGC Letter to Strange

The doc above includes a 2011 letter from NIGC Chair Tracie Stevens, too.

News coverage here.

Mass. Gov. Patrick and Mashpee Wampanoag Chairman Cromwell Sign Gaming Compact

Contacts:

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe: Brooke Scannell – 617-922-0094

Office of Governor Deval L. Patrick: Heather Johnson, Bonnie McGilpin, Juli Hanscom – 617-725-4025

GOVERNOR PATRICK AND CHAIRMAN CROMWELL SIGN GAMING COMPACT BETWEEN COMMONWEALTH AND MASHPEE WAMPANOAG TRIBE

BOSTON- Wednesday, March 20, 2013 – Governor Deval Patrick and Chairman Cedric Cromwell today announced that a new gaming Compact between the Commonwealth and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has been signed and will now be sent to the Legislature for approval. This Compact paves the way for a resort-style casino in Region C in the southeast of Massachusetts, created by the Expanded Gaming Act signed by Governor Patrick in 2011. Continue reading

N.C. Appellate Court Affirms Dismissal of Tort Suit against EBCI

We previously posted an earlier appeal of this case to the state appellate system here. The Eastern Band tribal court had jurisdiction all along.

Here are the materials in Cardeon v. Owle Constr. II:

Appellant Brief

Appellee Brief

Reply Brief

NC App Unpublished Decision

National Labor Relatons Board ALJ Finds Multiple NLRA Violations at Lytton Rancheria Casino

Here is the opinion in Lytton Rancheria of California d/b/a Casina San Pablo:

Administrative Law Judges Decision

Federal Court in “Cunundrum” Orders Interior to Refile Cowlitz Record of Decision and Dismisses Grand Ronde et al. Suit

Here is the order  and related materials in Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon v. Salazar (D. D.C.):

DCT Order

Clark County et al Motion for Summary J

Interior Opposition to Summary J Motion

USET Amicus

City of La Center Amicus

Interior Revised Cowlitz Initial Reservation Opinion

Interior Motion to Remand

Clark County et al Opposition to Remand Motion

Clark County et al Motion to Strike

Interior Opposition to Motion to Strike

Clark County et al Reply in Support of Motion to Strike

Excerpt from Judge Rothstein’s opinion:

Nor can the Federal Defendants supplement the administrative record with the 2012 Revised Initial Reservation Decision. It is black letter law that the record to be considered by this Court “consists of the administrative record compiled by the agency in advance of litigation, not any record thereafter constructed in the reviewing court.” AT&T Info. Sys. Inc. v. Gen. Servs. Admin., 810 F.2d 1233, 1236 (D.C. Cir. 1987) (emphasis added) (rejecting agency’s attempt to submit a litigation affidavit as a post hoc rationalization of the agency’s action); see also, Center for Auto Safety v. Federal Highway Admin., 956 F.2d 309, 314 (D.C. Cir. 1992) (rejecting agency’s rationale as post hoc rationalization not included in administrative record); Am. Textile Mfrs. Inst., Inc. v. Donovan, 452 U.S. 490, 539-40 (1981) (“[P]ost hoc rationalization of the agency or the parties to this litigation cannot serve as a sufficient predicate for agency action”). Accordingly, the Federal Defendants cannot “incorporate” a 2012 explanation into a 2010 ROD by characterizing it as a “Supplemental Record of Decision.”

However, the Court is now in a conundrum. The Court notes that Plaintiffs opposed the Federal Defendants’ motion to remand, yet remand is the relief that they sought on the initial reservation determination because the agency had failed to provide a “reasoned explanation for his decision.” The Secretary has now provided such a reasoned explanation. Plaintiffs again oppose remand and ask the Court to strike the Supplemental ROD. If the Court were to grant Plaintiffs’ request, the parties would be litigating the 2010 Initial Reservation Determination, a determination that has been withdrawn and superceded. The Court will not waste its or the parties’ resources on such a fruitless endeavor. See Spencer v. Kemna, 523 U.S. 1, 18 (1998) (“[Federal courts] are not in the business of pronouncing that past actions which have no demonstrable continuing effect were right or wrong”). The Court is also cognizant of the fact that the parties have been locked in this battle for nearly eleven years. (TR at 13.). However, the APA requires that the Federal Defendants conform to its dictates, disallowing amendments to a final decision once a case has been filed in district court. Accordingly, the Court will remand this action to the agency with instructions to rescind the 2010 ROD. Since this is a case where the agency has already reconsidered and revised its final decision and since the parties represent to the Court that the agency is not required to provide public notice under IGRA (which is the only portion of the 2010 ROD being supplemented), the Court will require the agency to issue a new decision of record within sixty (60) days of the date of this order, unless good cause is shown why it cannot do so. See Fulton v. FPC, 512 F.2d 947, 955 (D.C. Cir. 1975).

News coverage here.