Judge hears state’s argument for shutting down Texas Indian casino

Chris Roberts

Thursday, Aug. 23, 2001 | 10:51 a.m.

EL PASO, Texas -- According to a lawyer for the Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo, which operates the Speaking Rock Casino, gambling is big business in Texas and the tribe has a right to cash in.

However, lawyers for the state attorney general's office argued that casino-style gambling, with slot machines and poker tables, isn't allowed. They said the Tiguas agreed not to gamble if the federal government would recognize them as a tribe.

U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Eisele on Wednesday listened to arguments during a hearing in which both sides asked him to rule in their favor before the trial starts. Eisele said he would allow the two groups until Aug. 31 to file further arguments before he makes a decision.

"It's going to take a little more time than I had anticipated," Eisele said at the end of the hearing.

Lawyers for the state are trying to shut down the casino, which started operating in 1993 and now makes between $50 million and $60 million each year for the tribe.

"The premise and foundation ... we believe is very pure and simple, the Speaking Rock Casino is without question a bona fide, big-time, high-stakes gambling casino, illegal under Texas law," said Joe Crawford, special assistant to the attorney general.

Wednesday was spent arguing the details of cases that have been laid out in different courts since 1999 when Attorney General John Cornyn filed a federal suit in an attempt to close the casino.

The state argued that the tribe wrote its own resolution prohibiting gambling on the reservation to convince Congress to pass the 1987 Restoration Act, which recognized the Tiguas as a sovereign Indian tribe.

"Insofar as the gambling laws, the Tiguas have agreed to be treated like any other Texas resident," Crawford said.

Marc Schwartz, a spokesman for the tribe, said only bingo was allowed in Texas at the time and the resolution stated that gambling wasn't the tribe's intent "at that time or in the near future."

The tribe argues that the language in the Restoration Act allows them to offer any games of chance that aren't prohibited by the state. And they argue that the definition of what is legal in the State Lottery Act is so broad that their operation is within the law.

"The law clearly defines and goes into detail about the lottery," Crawford told the judge. "And only the Texas state government can operate a lottery."

Norman Gordon, an attorney for the Tiguas, argued that Ysleta Del Sur is a sovereign nation that can do whatever the state is allowed to do.

Gordon presented a chart listing the types of gambling that have occurred in the state, including: state lottery online and scratch games, bingo, raffles, carnivals, and horse and dog racing. He said some of the lottery games are structured the same as the casino-style games offered by the Tiguas.

Gordon said the state recorded gambling revenues of nearly _$1 billion in 2000.

"Gambling is big time business in Texas," Gordon said.

Gordon also argued that the definition of who is subject to the state penal code doesn't include Indian tribes. The state contends that the Tiguas qualify as an association, which is two or more people with common economic interests.

"This is not a sorority, it's not a fraternity," Gordon said. "It's a nation of people."