Judge rules Tiguas can resume limited gaming

Chris Roberts

Monday, May 20, 2002 | 11:33 a.m.

EL PASO, Texas -- A judge has cleared the way for the Tigua Indians to offer certain types of gambling -- but nothing close to the multimillion-dollar casino operation that existed at Speaking Rock casino before the federal government shut it down in February.

U.S. District Judge Garnett Thomas Eisele last week modified parts of a Sept. 27 ruling in which he ordered the tribe to end all gambling operations at the casino on tribal land in east El Paso.

Eisele said the tribe can offer eight-liners -- so called because there are eight ways to win, as in bingo, three lines vertically, three lines horizontally and two lines diagonally.

Eisele also ruled that the Tiguas can conduct state lottery games at their properties, and the tribe can offer charitable bingo if it gets a license from the Texas Lottery Commission. The tribe is not subject to the commission's regulatory authority, Eisele said, but still must adhere to state law.

In March, a month after the casino was shut down, the Tiguas asked Eisele to modify his order to allow them to engage in games of chance that are legal for other Texas residents.

Eisele complied, declaring that the Tiguas can offer the eight-liners as long as they conform to state law, which limits the prizes to merchandise, not cash, worth not more than 10 times what it costs to play, or $5, whichever is less.

"Tribal attorneys are currently reviewing the modification order with the members of the Tribal Council and further comment will be reserved until that review is completed," tribal spokesman Marc Schwartz said Friday.

The court denied the tribe's request to participate in "carnival contests" because such activities are only legal for religious, fraternal, school, law enforcement, youth, agricultural or civic groups. The court also denied the tribe's application to conduct "player pool" and card games.

The Tiguas' gaming enterprise is governed by the federal 1987 Restoration Act that brought legal recognition to the Native American tribe.

The state's effort to close the casino, which was initiated by Texas Attorney General John Cornyn in 1999, was supported by Eisele in his September ruling.

The Tiguas appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which granted a stay that allowed the casino to continue to operate during the appeals process. In January a three-judge panel of the appeals court affirmed Eisele's ruling and revoked the stay.

"We believe that the judges order was consistent with our argument all along that casino gambling is illegal in Texas," Jane Shepperd, a spokesman for Cornyn, said.

The Tiguas went back to court this spring to clarify which gambling activities were legal and which were not. The Tiguas have said they still plan to get legislative help next year to legalize casino gaming for Texas' three Indian tribes.