Legislation

Tribal rights an issue as Massachusetts weighs gaming bill

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

What happens if Massachusetts legalizes full-scale casinos? Lawmakers are trying to figure out how tribes will be affected.

“We’re vetting a range of options to deal with this," State Sen. Stanley Rosenberg (D), who is writing the Senate's gaming bill, told The Boston Globe. “We understand that to ignore this question is to compromise the success of our efforts if we choose to do this."

Under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, tribes can offer the same types of games that are legal in the state. But the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe face some significant hurdles in their casino quest.

The biggest issue for the tribes is land. The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar restricts the land-into-trust process to tribes that were "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934.

The Aquinnah gained recognition in 1987 and the Mashpee gained recognition in 2007. Legislation to fix the decision has stalled in Congress so the Obama administration plans to issue regulations to address the issue.

Even if the tribes acquire trust land and the state legalizes gambling, the tribes still have to negotiate a Class III compact. One version of the gaming bill attempts to limit the state to one compact within a certain number of years.

Get the Story:
A crapshoot for Mass. (The Boston Globe 5/26)
City Council votes down anti-casino resolution (The Fall River Herald News 5/26)