Column: Tribes exploiting 'loophole' in IGRA bill

Monday, April 10, 2006  

Ed. Note: The cutoff date was NOT pushed back several months. It was pushed back two weeks -- from March 31 to April 15 -- by the committee. The markup Sen. John McCain was considering actually had a June 1, 2006, cutoff date. The April 15 date is harsher than that one.

"No sooner did the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in Washington pass a measure to curb off-reservation gambling than tribes started moving on a giant loophole in the bill.

The Senate bill, which was sponsored by Arizona Sen. John McCain and had strong support from California's Dianne Feinstein, was intended to halt "instant reservation" Indian casinos -- like the one stopped midtrack in San Pablo -- from spreading.

The original draft of McCain's legislation would have limited future off-reservation gambling to 13 tribes already in the pipeline.

By the time McCain's bill was approved, however, the cutoff date for new tribes had quietly been pushed back several months -- keeping the gates open for dozens of tribes to still get in the door, including several who reportedly have their eye on California.

McCain was quoted widely in one Indian gambling trade publication as saying he'd push the date back to March 29 -- the date the Indian Affairs Committee approved his bill -- if there actually proved to be a flood of new applications."

Get the Story:
Matier and Ross: Odds Are [second item, middle of page] (The San Francisco Chronciel 4/10)