Tribal gambling subject to federal tax

Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2001 | 10:11 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled today that Indian tribes must pay federal gambling taxes on pull-tab lottery cards and other betting.

States are not required to pay federal excise taxes on wagers, and two Oklahoma tribes argued that Congress also intended to exempt them.

"The language of the statute is too strong to bend as the tribes would wish," Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the court.

The case involves pull-tab lottery cards, which are sold to finance reservation activities.

The Chickasaw Nation and Choctaw Nation argued that the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was unclear on whether lottery cards can be taxed.

Breyer said from the bench that part of the law was badly written, but "we do not think it means the Indian tribes don't have to pay the taxes."

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