Case: 3:25-cv-00698-wmc Document #: 56-1 Filed: 01/06/26 Page 5 of 13
a State which does not, as a matter of criminal law and public policy, prohibit such gaming activity.” 25 U.S.C. § 2701(5) (emphasis added). If tribes have “the exclusive right to regulate gaming” on their lands, they must then also have the power to regulate nonmembers’ gaming activities occurring on their lands. To hold otherwise would create a jurisdictional void. IGRA’s legislative history confirms this understanding. In the floor debate on the bill that would become IGRA, Senator Evans explained that it was his “understanding that the bill leaves undisturbed the tribe’s right to totally prohibit certain forms of gambling within an Indian reservation or upon trust lands outside the reservation should the tribe so choose.” 134 Cong. Rec. 24025 (Sep. 15, 1988). Senator Inouye, the sponsor of the bill, stated that Senator Evans’s understanding was correct and that “the bill is intended to leave intact the tribe’s regulatory authority over all lands within the reservation boundaries and upon trust or restricted lands outside the boundaries [and to] … authorize a tribe to completely prohibit all or certain forms of gaming if they so desire.” Id. These broad statements that tribes are able to “totally” and “completely” prohibit gaming, without reference to membership status, show congressional understanding and intent to maintain that tribes have the exclusive power to prohibit any gaming operations conducted on their tribal lands. In accordance with this principle and under the terms of IGRA, the Nation has the right to sue in federal district court to enjoin class III gaming activity, including sports betting, that occurs on their lands when such activity violates a compact. See 25 U.S.C. § 2710(d)(7)(A)(ii) (“The United States district courts shall have jurisdiction over … any cause of action initiated by a State or Indian tribe to enjoin a class III gaming activity located on Indian lands and conducted
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