February 19, 2001
BGCT ethicist warns against Indian gambling legislation
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___AUSTIN--A bill that would legalize casino gambling on three Texas Indian reservations could open the door for additional casino operations in the state, warned Weston Ware of the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission.
___HB 514 by Rep. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, and Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, and its companion bill, SB 253 by Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, would allow the Tigua, Alabama-Coushatta and Kickapoo Indians to operate casinos legally on their reservations.
___"In their hearts," Ware said, "gambling businesses want this bill to pass because no monopoly of casino gambling for Indian tribes would last. The history of gambling in Texas and the nation indicates that establishment of a gambling monopoly is always followed by effort to achieve parity for other forms of gambling.
___"The bill is already filed for state-operated casinos, and the cry will be 'parity,'" he warned.
___The Hinojosa and Shapleigh bills represent a "legislative end run" around a lawsuit by Texas Attorney General John Cornyn, suggested Ware, longtime legislative consultant for the Texas CLC.
___Last September, Cornyn went to court to shut down the Tigua nation's Speaking Rock Casino near El Paso. The suit, which has been assigned a July federal district court date, asserts that by operating slot machines and other games of chance, the Tiguas are violating state gambling laws.
___"The Texas Legislature is being asked to legitimize casino gambling by the Tiguas, who have acted as scofflaws in the face of both state and federal laws since 1993," Ware said.
___Tigua leaders claim their slot machines and card games are no different legally than the state-sponsored lottery. They also assert they are entitled under the Indian Gambling Regulatory Act of 1988 to run any kind of gambling that is legal in the state.
___The state, however, maintains that the Tiguas were granted federal tribe status in 1987 on the condition that they would not operate gambling on their reservation.
___Ware pointed out that the Tiguas' argument was rejected by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The casinos operated by the tribe are not allowed by the Indian Gambling Regulatory Act, which requires a "compact" with the state before a tribe can legally run a gambling operation.
___"Texas law clearly disallows all casino-type gambling," Ware said. He cited an opinion by former Attorney General Dan Morales that slot machine operations may not be authorized by the legislature without a constitutional amendment.
___"Can the legislature approve gambling operations for the Tiguas that cannot be granted to the people of the state without a state referendum?" Ware asked.
___The Speaking Rock Casino generates an estimated $60 million a year for the Tiguas. The Austin American-Statesman reported that according to Texas Ethics Commission records, the Tiguas have contributed $123,500 to state lawmakers in the past two years, including $11,500 to Shapleigh, $3,500 to Hinojosa and $3,000 to Keel.
___"No one should begrudge tribal groups their right to be part of the American political process. But perhaps the most difficult issue to deal with in this legislation is the issue of Indian sovereignty and the rights of other American citizens who do not want their state to be saturated with gambling," Ware said.
___"What does it mean to have three 'sovereign nations' comprising fewer than 2,000 people living within our state? Do they have rights the rest of us do not have? To pass the Hinojosa-Shapleigh bill would be to affirm that they do."
Get printer-friendly version of this story
Send this story to a friend
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!