alabama coushatta casino woodville texas

We’ve finally accomplished it and we’re going to do what the NGIC and the Department of the Interior have allowed us to do,” Bullock said. We’ve looked forward to this for many years. But we were shut out.” He added the tribe has not yet submitted a facility license for the site. We were cut out of gaming because of the language in the restoration act, even though Texas law itself had actually changed and the state got the lottery and bingo and horse racing and dog tracks.

Michael Odle of the NIGC said, “After evaluating that court decision it is in our belief, as well as the Department of the Interior, it provides the tribes in Texas the ability to game under Class II gaming.”īullokc said, “It has cost our tribe dearly over the years. In October, the Interior Department and the NIGC determined the Alabama-Coushatta do indeed have the right to offer bingo and electronic bingo on the reservation. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Texas, resulting in the closure of the casino.īut recently the tribe asked the Department of Interior and the National Indian Gaming Commission to clarify their legal standing in regard to gambling. Texas officials challenged that, and the U. But the tribe said the Indian Gaming Regulation Act of 1988 allowed gambling on reservation land. Texas claimed the tribe was required to follow state gaming under the Alabama-Coushatta Restoration Act signed in 1987, which granted the tribe federal recognition. The state shut down the Alabama-Coushatta’s casino after it was open only nine months. “We feel like we can be successful with this venture and people want it,” he said. The “entertainment center” will be completed next year, said spokesperson Carlos Bullock. Fourteen years after it was forced to shut down its successful casino near Livingston, Texas, the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe announced it will open a Class II gaming facility with 300 electronic games in the same location.

Alabama coushatta casino woodville texas