Arizona attorney general says tribes cannot offer card games

Tuesday, Aug. 12, 1997 | 10:35 a.m.

A legal opinion issued by Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods on Friday says card games operated as a business are illegal. That means that tribes cannot offer poker, state Department of Gaming Director Gary Husk said Tuesday. The tribes say federal law allows them to offer poker without state interference.

Tribal officials said Tuesday the card games would continue while their lawyers study Woods' opinion. Officials from tribal gaming operations are scheduled to meet Friday in Tucson to discuss the issue.

"It's just an opinion as far as we're concerned, and until we get an indication that it is the law we will continue to keep operating," said Clinton Pattea, president of the Fort McDowell Mohave-Apache tribe. "We're going to try and stay with it as long as we can, because it is one of the operations at the casino that we do quite well by."

Sixteen of the 21 Indian tribes in Arizona have signed compacts with the state to allow slot machines in their tribal casinos. Only 14 tribes actually operate casinos, and at least one - the Gila River Indian Community south of Phoenix - does not offer poker. None of the compacts specifically allows poker or other card games.

Woods' opinion says federal law allows tribes to offer card games without a compact only if those card games are not illegal under state law. Although Woods issued a news release Tuesday saying his opinion did not state whether any particular card games were illegal, the Gaming Department said the opinion means tribes cannot offer poker.

Though the Gaming Department disagrees, tribes contend federal law allows them to offer the card games because Arizona allows charity and social poker games. Some tribal officials also questioned the timing of the ruling, saying some tribal casinos have offered poker for years.

"Where was this decision when all the tribes started gaming with ... poker?" asked George Benatz of the Yavapai-Apache tribe's gaming commission. "They invested in equipment and hired employees, and now the attorney general comes out with this opinion."

Gaming Department spokesman Gibson McKay said the department asked for the opinion recently after several Indian casinos added poker to their lineup.

"Obviously, we can't endorse tribes' breaking the law by conducting this type of gaming activity," McKay said.

Indian gaming has been a contentious issue in Arizona for years. The Gaming Department is fighting with the Tohono O'odham in federal court over who may regulate tribal casino employees. Last year, voters passed a ballot measure to force Gov. Fife Symington to negotiate a gambling agreement with the Salt River Pima-Maricopa tribe, which Symington has refused to do.

The 16 existing compacts were negotiated five years ago after a court battle that followed the federal government's seizure of slot machines from four reservations. Two tribes have since closed their casinos as economically unsuccessful.