Fort Sill Tribe Takes Step Back After Removal Of Bingo Machines

The Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma has not had much luck with their new unopened casino in New Mexico. They already have been ordered to not open their doors to customers, and now they will be removing electronic gambling bingo machines from the location.

The tribe has already received bad news from the National Indian Gaming Commission after an advisory opinion gave the tribe little hope that they would ever be allowed to open the casino. The reason for the bad news is the tribe wanted to open the casino even though it is located 500 miles away from their reservation. Federal law will not permit that to happen.

The machines that will be removed this week were given to the Fort Sill Tribe on lease by the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. The agreement was that payments would be deferred until June 10th to try and give Fort Sill a chance to get the casino open.

The casino has not opened, and the default on the payments has caused the Poawatomi to ask for the machines back. "The deadline wasn't met, so we're returning them," said Chairman Jeff Houser.

The Fort Sill Tribe is still hoping that a challenge in Federal court will allow them to open the casino. The tribe is arguing that the federal government must move quickly to respond to the tribe's request to take the land into trust.

If that happened, the casino would then be legally allowed to open, but the odds are stacked against the tribe. Only four percent of the tribe's members live in New Mexico. Forty seven percent live in Oklahoma.

June 17, 2008
Posted By April Gardner
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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