Indian Gaming > NIGC reconsiders Fort Sill Apache casino case

October 2, 2008

NIGC reconsiders Fort Sill Apache casino case

The National Indian Gaming Commission is reconsidering an opinion that said the Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma couldn't open a casino on ancestral land in New Mexico.

A May 19 memorandum from the agency's top attorney said the 30-acre site in southern New Mexico did not qualify for gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The land was taken into trust after 1988 and doesn't meet any of IGRA's exceptions, according to the opinion.

But as a result of "new argument" advanced by the tribe, the agency is taking another look at the issue, the Indian Land Opinions page of the NIGC's web site states.

The tribe plans a modest Class II facility on the site. The tribe's ancestors lived in the area before being imprisoned and forced to Oklahoma.