NIGC Expresses Concern Over Absence Of Federal Standards

The chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission yesterday warned that the absence of federal standards in Indian casinos could attract crime and cost tribes untold millions of dollars. Chairman Philip Hogen said in remarks yesterday prepared for the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee, “Operations without effective internal controls and oversight will, once again, become obvious targets for the unscrupulous. Those tribes . . . will lose millions of dollars and often not realize that it has happened until years later.”

Sylvia Cates, deputy legal affairs secretary for the governor, and Dean Shelton, the state commission chairman, both said California's compacts require operating rules similar and, in some cases, identical to the federal standards and that, in addition, most tribes have adopted rules at least equal to the federal rules. The state has also requested $1.7 million and 14 added positions in the new budget to expand its field presence and begin the transition from federal to state enforcement of the rules.

But Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, who chairs the Governmental Organization Committee, has questioned the state's ability to regulate the casinos and assure the state's share of revenues without the federal standards in place. “My goal is to ratify these compacts,” Torrico said at the end of the hearing. “But none of the compacts will be ratified until this issue and the others I have mentioned before are addressed fully.”

The tribes were not allowed to testify at the hearing Monday, but have previously stated that there is sufficient regulation in place for customers and the community to feel confident that the games are properly run and casinos are not corrupt. All of the tribes with amended compacts have adopted standards that determine how money is handled in casinos, how slot machines are maintained and how and when decks of cards are replaced. The tribes deny the existence of a "regulatory gap," noting that the National Indian Gaming Commission still has the ability to fine them or shut down their facilities, that the state Gambling Control Commission has some authority already and that tribes have their own gaming commissions.

The Agua Caliente tribe is running a newspaper ad in Sacramento attempting to combat "misinformation that has reached the compact debate." "No one is more interested in verifiable regulatory oversight of Indian gaming than we are. Our business depends on it," the ad states.

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