On June 28, 2024, the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decisions in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless v. Department of Commerce—overruling the 40-year-old Chevron doctrine. The opinion is likely to set...more
After three long years, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, a leader in the fight for Tribal gaming rights, appears to have just won its latest battle – this one over a Tribe’s ability to offer mobile sports betting throughout the...more
On February 27, 2024, the District Court for the Eastern District of California entered an order finding that California did not negotiate a Class III gaming compact in good faith with Plaintiff Alturas Indian Rancheria...more
On February 16, 2024, the United States Department of the Interior (“DOI”) issued revisions to its regulations for how it reviews Class III Tribal-State Gaming Compacts under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (“IGRA”). The...more
On January 31, 2024, the United States Department of the Interior issued gaming procedures under the Federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (“IGRA”) for five tribes located in California: Blue Lake Rancheria, Chemehuevi Indian...more
In a recent decision, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled in the case of Sipp v. Buffalo Thunder Inc. that state courts do not have the authority to adjudicate tort claims filed by casino visitors. The unanimous decision...more
In an interim order, the U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily stayed an order by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding a gaming compact between the state of Florida and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which would allow the...more
There has been a recent decision on an interesting case involving a challenge to the ability of the federal government to provide benefits or rights to Tribes and other Native organizations....more
On February 10, 2023, the Honorable Judge Angel Kelley of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts ruled that the U.S. Department of the Interior acted legally when it took into trust 321 acres of land (two noncontiguous...more
The Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians (“Rincon”) in California has taken a historical step under its federally approved Class III Secretarial Gaming Procedures to withdraw from California’s state oversight of its tribal gaming...more
Recent proposed regulations seek to streamline and reduce costs for tribal land into trust applications and clarify parameters for negotiation and approval of tribal-state gaming compacts. The administrative process by...more
On July 28, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (“Court” or “Ninth Circuit”) issued a significant decision addressing the Class III gaming compact negotiation process between a state and a tribe as required by the Federal...more
On May 12, 2022, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed S.B. 84 legalizing retail and online sports betting throughout the state. The newly-enacted law represents a compromise between the “single operator” and “free market”...more
In February 2022, New York State Senator Joseph Addabbo introduced S.B. 8412, a bill that would legalize online casino gaming (also known as “iGaming”) in New York. If passed, the Bill would give the New York State Gaming...more
On November 23, 2021, the US District Court for the District of Columbia invalidated a 2021 gaming compact between the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the State of Florida, which permitted mobile sports wagering throughout the...more
As the Seminole Tribe’s anticipated November 15 online betting “launch” approaches, there has been a flurry of activity in the three lawsuits challenging the online sports betting provisions in the 2021 Seminole Tribal-State...more
On Thursday, September 9, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Interior approved Connecticut’s amended state-tribal gaming compacts with the Mohegan and Mashantucket-Pequot Tribes, bringing Connecticut another step closer to an...more
On Tuesday, August 31, Connecticut’s Legislative Regulation Review Committee approved a set of emergency sports betting and iGaming regulations, which will be effective for the next 180 days while the state finalizes its...more
As we reported previously, the U.S. Department of the Interior (Department) issued a letter on August 6, indicating it had declined to take action regarding Florida’s state-tribal gaming compact (the Compact) within the...more
On Friday, August 6, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Interior (the Department) issued a letter indicating it has declined to take action regarding Florida’s state-tribal gaming compact (the Compact) within the 45-day window...more
On July 12, 2021, Washington Governor Jay Inslee approved amended state-tribal gaming compacts with 15 of the state’s Indian Tribes that would allow the Tribes to offer retail and online sports betting on the premises of...more
On April 23, 2021, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) released its decision in R. v. Desautel, 2021 SCC 17, which upheld the lower court decisions to acquit Richard Desautel of charges under the Wildlife Act. The SCC confirmed...more
On April 15, Governor Ducey signed into law the greatest expansion of the Arizona gaming landscape in nearly two decades. The new law, along with amended Tribal-State Gaming Compacts, legalizes event wagering (sports...more
For over 20 years, the State of California has used tribal gaming compacts to accomplish what federal law and tribal sovereignty would otherwise forbid: forcing tribes to follow state labor law in their casinos. Recently...more
On January 16, 2020, the New Mexico Supreme Court issued its decision in Mendoza v. Isleta Resort and Casino, holding that a tribe does not waive its sovereign immunity to workers’ compensation claims merely by committing in...more