The Nooksack River Casino’s management is still exchanging unpaid slot tickets at the moment.
The Nooksack Northwood Casino in the State of Washington closed its doors last week due to violations of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. This week, the casino is allowing its customers to exchange unused slot tokens for cash.
The National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) filed an 18-page order against the Nooksack Indian Tribe and demanded it close its final land-based casino last week. That casino, Northwood, is located in the town Lynden in Whatcom County in Northern Washington.
NIGC Chairman On Northwood Casino’s Closure
The National Indian Gaming Commission’s Chairman Jonodev Chaudhuri released a statement about it decision, stating it tried to resolve the dispute for years before closing the Nooksack Northwood Casino.
Chairman Chaudhuri said in a prepared statement, “We do not take lightly the issuance of notices of violation and closure orders against tribal gaming operations.”
“We are taking this significant enforcement action only after a complete analysis of the unique circumstances involved, including a full review of the structure of the tribe’s governing and business bodies.”
The NIGC said that the Nooksook Indian Tribe has violated federal laws for years, because four members of its tribal gaming council have expired terms. For tribal casinos to be considered legal under federal laws, their affairs “must be conducted by federally recognized leadership“, said the Indian Gaming Commission.
Council Members in Violation of Federal Law
The National Indian Gaming Commission sent numerous letters to the four members, stating they were in violation of federal law and needed to give up their seats on the council. Because those members are considered to be serving in an illegal capacity, the tribal council does not have the necessary quorum to make legal decisions.
Nooksack Disenrollment Scandal
In 2016, the tribe was supposed to have leadership elections, but the elections were canceled by Chairman Bob Kelly amidst federal and tribal concerns over the disenrollment of 306 tribal members. The disenrollment controversy, which began in 2013 when Kelly and his fellow council members disenrolled 306 members, was considered by outsiders as an attempt to illegally sway the elections in favor of sitting members.
Federal authorities invalidated the 2016 elections, making them null and void. Also, federal and state governments defunded the tribe due to the dispute, which cost the tribe millions of dollars.
Deming Casino’s 2015 Closure
Gabriel Galanda, the Seattle lawyer representing the 306 disenrolled members, has been pursuing legal remedies against the tribe for years, but he said that this is the first time gaming regulators called for the closure of a Nooksack casino. While the tribe has a right to appeal the decision, if it operates in violation of the NIGC’s order, it will lose $50,000 a day.
Because the tribe owed $15 million to Outsource Services Management and due to legal bills incurred in the disenrollment case, the tribal leaders closed down the Nooksack River Casino in Deming, Washington on December 11, 2015. The 2015 closure was conducted under a veil of secrecy, as the casino’s Facebook page continued to advertise.
Safe Drinking Water Act Violations
The Seattle Times reported that the NIGC’s order cited numerous violations of federal law, including notice of six violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act by the Environmental Protection Agency. The newspaper also cited an unwillingness to “adequately protect the environment and the public health and safety“.
The council members also failed to “maintain sole proprietary interest in and responsibility for the conduct of its gaming operation“.
NIGC Actions against Tribes
Given the decades of legal battles to acquire rights to host casinos on their reservations and generations of economic privations under the reservation system in the first place, it is rare that the NIGC shuts down tribal casino operators. In recent history, it generally takes malfeasance and instability in the tribal council for tribes to be sanctioned.
For instance, when the NIGC closed the Chukchansi Gold Casino in California, it was because two factions of the tribe got into an armed standoff inside the casino. Gamblers had to grab chips from their table games while they ducked for cover, or had to leave chips sitting on the table as they fled the gaming space. When the tribal leaders are out of control, someone has to provide oversight.
In the case of Chukchansi Gold Casino, the casino was closed for over 14 months (October 9, 2014 to December 31, 2015), costing the tribe millions upon millions of dollars and putting thousands of local residents out of work. One can hope that the Nooksack casino closures are temporary and the Nooksack River Casino will reopen in a number of months, after the tribe finds new leadership.
