Pauma Band bars women from casino after dispute about jackpot

Monday, July 19, 2010  

Two women are upset that the Pauma Band of Luiseño Indians of California banned them for life from the tribal casino.

Jill Waters and Laura Waters are sisters-in-law. They were playing slot machines together at the Casino Pauma when one of them hit a $2,000 jackpot.

The casino raised questions because Laura claimed to be operating the machine even though Jill was the one who was playing it when the jackpot hit. The women said they were told that an attempt to conceal the true winner of the prize violates federal laws against tax evasion and money laundering.

“We have never been called anything so ugly and malicious in our entire lives, we didn’t do anything wrong,” Jill Waters later wrote in a letter to the California Gaming Commission, citing a tribal document she and her sister-in-law signed that referred to them as "undesirables," The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

The women can appeal to the tribal gaming commission but haven't taken any steps to do so.

Get the Story:
Casino bans sisters-in-law for life (The San Diego Union-Tribune 7/18)