March 5, 2001
Gambling bill passes committee
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___AUSTIN--A key committee in the Texas Legislature approved an Indian gambling bill last week that opponents say could lead to the widespread proliferation of casinos in the state.
___The House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on Feb. 27 conducted hearings on a measure that would allow the Tigua, Alabama-Coushatta and Kickapoo Indians to operate casinos legally on their reservations. ?
___Weston Ware of the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission was the lone voice testifying in opposition to the bill.
___The committee approved the measure 7-2, sending it on to the House Calendars Committee, chaired by Barry Telford, D-DeKalb.
___Ware told the committee the bill places the special interests of fewer than 2,000 people above the welfare of more than 20 million citizens.
___"While the federal government owes the Indians assistance under the trust relationship it has with them, it does not owe them license to conduct illegal gambling in this state," he said.
___HB 514 by Rep. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, and Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, would thwart a lawsuit by Attorney General John Cornyn, who went to court last September to shut down the Tigua's Speaking Rock Casino near El Paso.The suit asserts that by operating casino-style gambling the Tiguas are violating the state gambling laws.
___The Tiguas claim their slot machines and card games are no different legally than the state-sponsored lottery. They maintain they are entitled under the Indian Gambling Regulatory Act of 1988 to run any kind of gambling that is legal in the state--an argument 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, Ware noted. The Speaking Rock Casino generates an estimated $60 million a year for the Tiguas.
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