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In the past few months, one federal law has been cited repeatedly, perhaps more than any other federal law, when it comes to expanding sports betting across the country. That’s the Indian Gambling Oversight Act, or as it is often called, GAME.
IGRA is the law that determines whether Florida may offer mobile sports betting nationwide. It will also control how sports betting will look like in many states in the country Connecticut to Arizona.
IGRA and its descendants of administrative and judicial rulings are also perhaps the most important federal law in determining what sports betting will look like when they finally hit the market California.
Before there was IGRA …
In fact, IGRA can trace a significant portion of its origins back to the state of California. Back in the middle1980s, California tried to limit the ability of the tribes in the state to offer offers bingo and certain card games.
Bingo was not completely prohibited under California law at the time, but was restricted to “designated charities” and could not have prizes greater than. to offer $ 250, as well as some other restrictions.
California insisted that the tribes obey state laws, as it did Riverside County. They argued that the Cabazon and Morongo Gangs of Mission Indians violate local ordinances and state law.
The lawsuit and the Supreme Court
Tribes filed a lawsuit in federal court. The tribes argued that the state and county had no power to regulate or enforce state gambling laws on tribal land.
The Supreme Court argued that the tribes were right that “state regulation would unduly violate tribal government.”
Judge John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O’Connor, and Antonin Scalia drafted a dissent. They argued that without an exception to Congress for Tribal Gaming from state law and federal oversight, a state should be able to prohibit:
High stakes gambling on Indian reservations within its boundaries.
Effect of the decision
The majority in the court found this argument unconvincing because it created a situation where states, recognizing tribal sovereignty, were unable to regulate tribal games in the countryside within state lines. This caused Congress to act in record time, at least for Congress.
In response to the Supreme Court decision, Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, and Senator John McCain and Rep. Mo Udall, both from Arizona, introduced laws that would act as a compromise between states and tribes across the country.
IGRA became law over 17th October 1988when the law was signed by President Ronald Reagan.
When the law was passed in 1988, it realized that licensing and regulation of gambling activities had become an important source of income for many tribal governments and sought to protect that source of income for the tribes. IGRA stated that:
Indian tribes have the exclusive right to regulate gambling activities on Indian land unless the gambling activities are expressly prohibited by federal law and are conducted in a state that does not criminally or publicly prohibit such gambling activities.
Classifications of games
IGRA uses three classifications to categorize gaming activities:
- Class I. Games are those games that are traditional or ceremonial in nature. These games can be offered without restrictions and do not require any other agreement.
- Class II Games include bingo and no bank account card games, much like the activities that led to the Cabazon Supreme Court case. This category of games does not require the tribe to enter into a contract with the state; instead, the tribe is subject to oversight by the National Indian Gaming Commission.
- Class III includes play activities that do not fall into Class I and Class II. These games can only be offered in a state if a tribe and the state have signed a treaty.
What is a gaming compact?
Basically, a contract is a contract between a state and a tribe with land within the state to offer games on tribal land.
Compacts set out the terms and conditions surrounding the games that can be offered on tribal properties. There are big differences between states in terms of the specificity of compacts.
For example, while some states specifically spell each game and the number of features a game can offer, others are compacts like that of New Mexico, just allow all Class III games that are not prohibited by law in the state. They were the first state to offer sports betting on tribal properties).
Procedure for compact release
After a state and tribe agree on a compact or compact change, it is sent to the Home Office for review.
A Compact can only be used by the. being rejected Interior minister in three circumstances:
- It’s against IGRA
- It violates another provision of federal law; or
- Violates “United States’ Fiduciary Duties to Indians”.
Approved compacts (or those deemed approved) come into effect when they are published in the Federal Register. This must be done within 90 Days after receipt of the contract by the Office of Indian Gaming.
Tribal sports betting is a big part of the future
The tribal operation of sports betting will be a large part of the industry’s growth.
The newly minted compact between Florida and the Seminole Tribe is only an early point.
Many of the big states that still want to legalize sports betting will do so through treaties with tribes within their borders. IGRA remains an important tool, although it appears to need some modernization to resolve issues related to mobile games.
