The Fort Sill Apache Tribeof Oklahoma says the National Indian Gaming Commission is intimidating some of the largest tribal casino vendors.

The tribe was getting ready to install Class II machines at a facility in New Mexico when "somebody" at the NIGC interfered, Chairman Jeff Houser told The Las Cruces Sun-News. He said Rocket Gaming Systems, IGT Games and Multimedia Games Inc. have been pressured not to work with the tribe.

"They've all been intimidated by someone at the NIGC," Houser told the paper. "They said they were concerned about their licenses."

NIGC spokesperson Shawn Pensoneau denied the claims. "That's not something we did," he said.

Without the electronic machines, the tribe is turning to card games. The Apache Homelands Casino hosted a $10,000 poker tournament on Sunday in hopes of drawing the NIGC into a legal battle over the facility's status.

"Since we were unable to turn the machines on, we decided to have a poker tournament," he Houser said of the tactic. "We're going to have one every week until we get sent a closure order."

The tribe has 30 acres of trust land in southern New Mexico. The NIGC says the land can't be used for gaming since it was acquired after 1988 and it doesn't meet any of the exceptions in Section 20 of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act

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