The new leader of the National Indian Gaming Commission promises to consult with tribes before making any major decisions.

Tracie Stevens, a member of the Tulalip Tribes of Washington, joined the agency in June. She has already put some controversial regulations on hold in order to discuss them with tribes.

“The commission is eager to engage in meaningful dialogue with tribes as we begin to consider the relevance of the commission’s current regulations for today’s industry and what can be done to improve the regulations in order that the industry is better protected,” Stevens said at the Global Gaming Expo last week, GamblingCompliance reported.

Indian gaming officials are eager for change. They said the NIGC, during the Bush administration, often acted without consulting tribes.

“They were often inflexible,” Jamie Hummingbird, the gaming commissioner for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, said at the conference. “There were a great number of times when their minds were already made up.”

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