Attorney General asks Texas Court to shut down Electronic Bingo Slots in Livingston

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and waddles like a duck, it must be a duck. So goes the quintessential argument of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who’s filed documents in federal court to have the Alabama-Coushatta bingo hall in Livingston, TX, Naskila Entertainment, shut down for operating electronic bingo games that look, sound and play like real slot machines.

Not only is AG Paxton looking to put the tribe’s Naskila Entertainment bingo hall out of business – again – he believes the operator should pay a fine of $10,000 per day for every day the facility has been in operation since it re-opened on June 2, 2016. As of today – Friday, August 19, 2016 – that would cost the Alabama-Coushatta tribe $790,000.

But that supposed-penalty will continue to increase with each dual-rotation of the clock, because the tribe has no intention of unplugging the 365 electronic bingo games that currently grace the floor of its small but lucrative gaming operation on U.S. 190. To do so might be an apparent concession to wrongdoing, and the tribe doesn’t believe they are in violation of any state or federal laws.

Tribal spokesman Chuck McDonald responded, “This is the bottom line: We believe the Alabama-Coushatta will prevail because we believe the Alabama-Coushatta are operating Naskila Gaming legally.”

Official Letter Grants Tribe Class II Gaming

The electronic bingo hall operated for a long time, without incident, up until 14 years ago, when the state was granted an injunction to close down the so-called slot machine parlor. Since then, the tribe fought the injunction, and earlier this year, finally received a letter from the US Department of Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs granting them the right to legally re-open the facility, complete with Class II electronic bingo games.

Class II gaming refers to a special category of games of chance – specifically bingo games. Slot machines, on the other hand, are defined as Class III gambling devices, which are not legal in Texas. But so long as the tribe’s electronic bingo games are classified as Class II, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to host them, in Texas, on tribal lands.

According to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (IGRA), federally recognized Native American tribe are permitted to host any form of gambling that is legal in the state in which they reside. Since charitable Class II bingo games are legal in Texas, the tribe’s Class II electronic bingo games should be as well.

AG says They’re Slot Machines, Plain and Simple

But AG Paxton argues the games at Naskila Entertainment are not an electronic form of bingo, but rather Class III slot machines, just like the ones found in Las Vegas.

Oddly enough, Paxton waited more than two months to file his case against the Alabama-Coushatta this week, resurrecting an age-old argument over tribal gaming rights in the Lone Star State. No doubt, the Attorney General’s confidence was bolstered by a successful quest to shut down the sweepstakes games recently operated by another tribe in El Paso.

“Texas law does not permit the gaming at issue,” said Paxton’s filing. He described the devices as slot machines, calling them “fully automated, essentially instantaneous electronic bingo games that start and end with a single push of a button”.