Loading...
Online Bonus
-
Weekly $3,000 freerolls at Full Tilt Poker
Read More
Friday, May 4, 2007
Tie vote kills Texas native casino legislation
By Erin Warner
A tie vote quashed the attempts of two Texas Indian reservations to reopen casinos closed by a federal court ruling in the state five years ago.
Today the Texas House of Representatives voted 66-66 on whether to allow the Tigua and Alabama-Coushatta tribes to host poker, bingo and pull-tab games on reserve land. But the bill failed because legislation must receive at least one more vote in favor than opposed to pass.
The legislation would have allowed only the two bands to operate casinos in Texas, reviving struggling economies on the reservation, supporters of the bill argued.
The move wouldn't have legalized gambling in the sate but instead would allow the tribes to reopen the old venues on the reservations.
The bill's Christian conservative opponents said the legislation would contradict federal law and open the floodgates for unregulated gambling.
The third recognized tribe in the Texas, the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe, has federal status that allows gambling. The Tigua and the Alabama-Coushatta are regulated by the state, which doesn't allow gambling on the reservations. Still, the bands hosted casinos on their land until the federal ruling in 2002.
Comment(s) on this article
Leave a comment