Alabama gambling operators have continuously used the Poarch Band of Creek Indians’ casinos as an excuse to continue their gambling businesses across the state. Most questioned how Gov. Bob Riley’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling could force slot machine-style gambling facilities around Alabama to shut down without even attempting to approach similar Indian casinos.
But some legal experts say gambling on sovereign Indian lands cannot be controlled or prevented until the state deals with its own gambling problems.
Robert McGhee, Poarch Creek governmental relations adviser, said the National Indian Gaming Commission, which regulates all Indian gambling, allows tribes like his to offer slot machine-style “electronic bingo” gambling in states where bingo is legal.
“If the state has bingo for a form of gaming, then the tribe is allowed to do Class II gaming (which includes electronic bingo),” McGhee said.
“The problem is when it comes to the state government compared to the federal government, the state is saying … they don’t believe electronic bingo is considered Class II bingo machines. … They look at those machines as illegal because that’s not traditional bingo,” he continued.
“Now when you look at the federal government — because we are a federally recognized tribe and we fall under federal law — federal law states that if a state is doing bingo, then the federal government will determine what bingo is,” McGhee said. “The federal government has determined that the machines we use are actually bingo machines.”
McGhee said the state would have to “outlaw paper bingo” to prevent his tribe from offering “electronic bingo gambling.” He added, “If the state did not have paper bingo, then we could not do what we we’re doing.”
Birmingham attorney Eric Johnston disagreed.
“They can play the same level of gambling allowed in the state,” said Johnston who heads the Southeast Law Institute and has fought against legalizing gambling for years. “If Milton McGregor (VictoryLand), Greenetrack, Ronnie Gilley (Country Crossing) and all the other places are permitted to operate slot machine gambling, then the Indians will be able to have it. But, conversely, if they are not allowed to have that level of gambling, then the Indians cannot have it. The Indians are not immune.”
Johnston said the kind of machines currently used by the Indians and formerly used in so-called charity electronic bingo facilities around the state are illegal.
“Electronic bingo and electronic slot machines are two different things,” he said referring to the Alabama Supreme Court’s six-point test for determining legal gambling.
“Just because no one challenged it for a number of years doesn’t make it legal. There’s prostitutes walking around in big cities, but that doesn’t mean it’s OK. That was the law falling down on its job. … Only when we resolve these issues in Alabama can we then turn to the Indians and tell them to stop the slot machine-type bingo.”
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Other American Indian groups in Alabama that have petitioned federal government for recognition
• Principal Creek Indian Nation East of the Mississippi in Florala
Status: Declined 06/10/1985
• MaChis Lower Alabama Creek Indian Tribe in New Brockton
Status: Declined 08/22/1988
• MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians in Mt. Vernon
Status: Declined 11/26/1999
• Cherokee Tribe of Northeast Alabama (formerly Cherokees of Jackson County, Alabama) in Pinson
Status: Letter of Intent to Petition 09/23/1981
• Cherokees of Southeast Alabama in Dothan
Status: Letter of Intent to Petition 05/27/1988
• The Langley Band of the Chickamogee Cherokee Indians of the Southeastern United States in Birmingham
Status: Letter of Intent to Petition 04/20/1994; Postal service certified letter returned 11/5/1997
• Cherokee Nation of Alabama in Birmingham
Status: Letter of Intent to Petition 02/16/1999
• Cherokee River Indian Community in Moulton
Status: Letter of Intent to Petition 08/03/2000
• Phoenician Cherokee II — Eagle Tribe of Sequoyah in Gadsden
Status: Letter of Intent to Petition 9/18/2001
• United Cherokee Ani-Yun-Wiya Nation (formerly United Cherokee Intertribal) in Guntersville
Status: Letter of Intent to Petition 11/08/2001
• Coweta Creek Tribe in Phenix City
Status: Letter of Intent to Petition 2/12/2003
Source: www.bia.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/text/idc-001215.pdf
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