Gov't retreats on tribal bingo regulation
WASHINGTON -- Under pressure from Indian tribes, federal regulators announced Thursday they're retreating on attempts to make sure electronic bingo machines at tribal casinos can't masquerade as Las Vegas-style slots.
Phil Hogen, chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission, said in a statement that he will "put aside the controversial proposals," acceding to tribes' complaints that they could have dire economic impacts.
Hogen issued the statement after making the announcement to the Oklahoma Sovereignty Symposium in Oklahoma City. His move underscored the federal government's struggles in trying to regulate the $25 billion-a-year tribal gambling industry, which has grown explosively.
Slot machines are more lucrative than video bingo and more attractive to players, but they are subject to state approval and limits. Video bingo isn't.
The basic difference between the two is that slot machines involve a gambler interacting only with a single machine, whereas video bingo requires gamblers to play each other over a linked network.
As tribes increasingly supplement their slot machine allotments with video bingo, manufacturers have produced electronic bingo machines that are virtually indistinguishable from slots -- spinning reels, blinking lights and all. That allows tribes to draw in more players and make more money.
But it caused Hogen to worry that tribes were effectively skirting the law's limits on slot machines. He had been attempting for several years to finalize regulations delineating the distinction between the two.
A proposal issued last year would have aimed to make it clearer to customers when they are playing bingo rather than a slot machine, including by slowing play and requiring more players and clearer labeling.
The proposal ran into angry opposition from tribes, even though it was significantly weaker than an earlier proposed rule that was dropped in face of tribal opposition. Some tribes that aren't allowed to have slot machines at their casinos rely entirely on electronic bingo for revenue and complained that the regulations could send them back into poverty.
The National Indian Gaming Association, the trade group for casino tribes, issued a statement welcoming Hogen's announcement as "an important development for Indian Country." Tribes could have lost approximately $1.2 billion a year under the proposed regulations on top of potential compliance costs, the association said.
Hogen said his commission would continue to consider less controversial technical standards for electronic bingo machines and still planned to study the issue of what constitutes electronic bingo.