Friday, November 21, 2008

Class II regulations still hot | Indian Country Today | Gaming

Class II regulations still hot Indian Country Today Gaming:
"LAS VEGAS – National Indian Gaming Commission Chairman Phil Hogen is still questing after a “bright line” between Class II and Class III gaming, and may find it by enforcing compliance with an opinion he issued rather than the normal way through regulations.

But Jess Green, a Chickasaw attorney in Oklahoma who is an expert in Indian gaming law, said he’s ready to litigate if Hogen takes that route.

At a presentation called NIGC Roundtable: The Commission View, Hogen spoke at length about his perception of the need for changes that would “clarify” the difference between Class II and Class III gaming machines.

Class II machines, which are used for bingo, lotto, pull tabs and other such games, don’t require a tribal-state compact or sharing the tribe’s gaming revenues with the state. Class II gaming is particularly useful to tribes in states that refuse to negotiate gaming compacts.

Class III slot machines do require a compact with the state, which usually takes a share of the tribe’s profit.

Hogen recalled the early years of Indian high stakes bingo when a bingo blower randomly selected the numbers and players could see the balls being selected and who they were playing against. Players were confident that the game wasn’t rigged because everything was transparent, Hogen said.

“It’s not easy with all this complicated environment, all this high speed electronic equipment. You’ve got to convince the player that this is fair and a square kind of deal"

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