As work on what is anticipated to be the largest casino resort in the state gets underway, the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe intends to launch a temporary casino in East Texas this summer.

According to a statement from the tribe, the temporary location in Leggett will have 300 class II electronic bingo machines and be available around-the-clock.

“This temporary facility will provide a positive economic impact for Polk County, surrounding communities, and for the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe,” Tribal Council Chairman Ricky Sylestine said. “The temporary casino will create 110 new jobs, strengthen local partnership, and establish a foundation for long-term tourism growth.”

 

Advance Resort Plans

On June 18, the tribe will officially begin work on the larger, permanent resort with a groundbreaking ceremony.

The location, which will be called the Naskila gaming Resort, is anticipated to feature "a state-of-the-art casino floor, hotel accommodations, and diverse dining and entertainment options," according to a news release from the tribe, however little specifics about the project have been made public.

The Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino at Eagle Pass, close to the Mexican border, is currently the largest casino complex in Texas. There are just three gaming establishments in the state. Among them is Alabama-Coushatta's own Naskila Casino in Livingston, a little casino that will close to make room for the bigger Naskila Casino Resort.

 

Not on the reservation

The new arena, in contrast to the old, will be constructed on tribally held ground off reservation. Tribal chairwoman Cecilia Flores informed the Polk County Enterprise in September of last year that the federal National Indian Gaming Commission had verified the land's gaming eligibility.

The tribe has not said how the project would be funded or whether it plans to collaborate with a significant gaming firm.

The expansion comes after the US Supreme Court's historic June 2023 decision that Texas cannot stop the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe from providing Class II gaming, including electronic bingo, on its reservation in accordance with federal law.

The ruling put an end to decades of legal disputes over tribal gaming rights between Texas and the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe and the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo.

 

Texas Gaming Competition

The 1986 Texas Restoration Act (TRA), a federal statute that restored the tribes' federal status and lands but also contained provisions limiting gaming operations, was at the heart of the controversy.

The Indian gambling Regulatory Act (IGRA), which Congress passed two years later, established a national framework for tribal gambling and upheld the rights of tribes to run Class II gaming on sovereign land.

The Alabama-Coushatta and Ysleta del Sur Pueblo tribes contended that the gambling limitations of the Restoration Act were superseded by IGRA.

The Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas, another federally recognized tribe in Texas, has long operated electronic bingo under IGRA as the federal law that created the tribe did not contain comparable nongaming restrictions.

The Alabama-Coushatta and Ysleta del Sur Pueblo tribes continued to be controlled by the Restoration Act rather than IGRA, according to a 1994 decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court overturned the ruling almost thirty years later, allowing Class II gambling enterprises.