That decision distinguishes between types of gambling that a state prohibits outright and types of gambling that a state tolerates subject to regulation. The Supreme Court first addressed the problem squarely in its 1987 decision in California v. The success of that facility led to proliferation of the business model. Gambling on tribal lands first came to prominence with a Seminole casino in Florida in the late 1970s. Some background about the general compromise that governs that problem sets the stage for this dispute.
The state regulators want to bring reservation gambling under their regulatory umbrella tribes seek to profit from gambling facilities that are exempt from general state constraints. Texas presents yet another installment in the decades-long conflict between state gambling regulators and Native American tribes.
Tuesday’s argument in Ysleta del Sur Pueblo v.
