Secretary of the Interior Issues Class III Gaming Procedures for Five Tribes Without Role for State of California

By Heidi McNeil Staudenmaier and Amanda Z. Weaver, Ph.D.

On January 31, 2024, the United States Department of the Interior issued gaming procedures under the Federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (“IGRA”) for five tribes located in California: Blue Lake Rancheria, Chemehuevi Indian Tribe of the Chemehuevi Reservation, Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California, Hopland Band of Pomo Indians, and Robinson Rancheria (collectively, the “Tribes”). These procedures are historic because they provide for these Tribes to regulate their own Class III gaming under the IGRA, with oversight of the National Indian Gaming Commission (“NIGC”), but without any authority from the state of California to regulate the Tribes’ gaming. 

The issuance of these gaming procedures comes after both (1) a significant July 2022 decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, where the majority determined that California had negotiated with several tribes in bad faith under the IGRA;¹  and (2) a historic step at the end of 2022 from the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians, another tribe located in California, which withdrew from California’s state oversight of its tribal gaming operations to rely solely upon the NIGC for performing regulatory responsibilities that otherwise were reserved for the state.² 

The procedures for each Tribe (which are identical) are structured to remain in effect in perpetuity (subject to revocation by mutual consent of the Tribe and the Secretary of the Interior, or the Tribe adopting a resolution revoking authority to conduct Class III gaming). The procedures also entitle each Tribe to operate the number of Gaming Facilities and Gaming Devices that the Tribe determines, “in its sole discretion” are “appropriate for its market conditions and economic needs.”

The Department of the Interior’s issuance of these procedures for these Tribes serves as a notable step in tribal gaming under the IGRA that may prove influential in California and elsewhere for states and Tribes in all stages of the compact process pursuant to the IGRA.