The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation is suing the Kansas Lottery for operating machines and selling lottery tickets on its reservation without its permission. The lawsuit alleges the action violates the nation's sovereignty, the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and the nation’s own gaming ordinances.
Experts believe lawsuits like this one could open up what type of betting is allowed on reservation land in Kansas.
Nation Council Chairman Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick said the nation has been a valuable partner to Kansas and Jackson, Pottawatomie, Shawnee and Wabaunsee counties, where the reservation sits, "through partnership, job creation and as an economic engine.”
“At a minimum we expect state and local governments to adhere to the treaties that have cemented our boundaries for centuries, affirming our sovereignty on what's always been our land,” Rupnick said in a news release.
The Kansas Lottery said it couldn’t comment on the merits of the case.
The nation said the sale of lottery tickets violates its right to regulate civil matters within its reservation, something that was “established by a long line of case law” prior to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
The act was passed in 1988 to “regulate the conduct of gaming on Indian Lands.” At the time, the only source of gambling was through machines.
Gambling sources have changed since 1988. Sports betting has become a boon in the gambling world. In Kansas, sports betting enabled total statewide commercial gaming revenue to hit a record $722.1 million last year, according to the American Gaming Association.
Sports betting is also accessible on mobile devices, making it hard to regulate within tribal land.
Josh Arce, with Texas nonprofit Native American Partnership, said the lawsuit could raise questions about equity, accessibility and parity.
Arce said gaming was always “place-based,”’ meaning you have to go into a gaming facility to gamble.
“But now with the internet and expanded gaming, you can gamble online, you're virtual, you can gamble anywhere,” Arce said.
The federal gaming act allowing reservations to have their own lottery machines created a booming economic driver, Arce said.
He said it made gaming a viable economic opportunity for development in tribal communities across the country.
“(It’s) how people were able to create jobs, pay for road and bridge programs in reservation communities, pay for healthcare, pay for education,” Arce said.
Arce also raised the issue of tribes in Kansas and the U.S. continually fighting for sovereign rights, status and authority. He said there are routine efforts to “disenfranchise tribes of their authority and chip away at their sovereign status.”
“If the state successfully encroaches on the reservation boundaries without consent, or explicit authority, where will it end?” Arce said.
The nation also seeks a declaration that the 900-square-mile reservation established by an 1836 treaty “has never been disestablished or diminished under federal law and therefore continues to exist.”
The U.S promised the nation in 1846 that its Kansas reservation “would be their land and home forever,” according to the tribe’s news release.
The lawsuit was filed in early July in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.
Rachel Schnelle reports on Missouri and Kansas issues for KRPS.
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