CA tribes told contest organisers, "We don't talk to terrorists."

 The host of the latest New Normal webinar series, Victor Rocha, said that California tribes and sweepstakes owners can't talk to each other. The webinar took place today, November 21.  Now is the time to look into taking enforcement measures.
 Flags of California and the US
 Rocha was joined by Jason Giles, who is the executive head of the Indian Gaming Association (IGA) and also hosts events for the IGA.  Jonodev Chaudhuri was this week's guest. He is the head at Chaudhuri Law and used to be the chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC).

 The episode was mostly about rules and compliance.  Rocha and Giles wanted to know what the NIGC, as well as the state and federal governments, can do to stop the growth of contest websites.

 Rocha said, "You can see how the whole industry is responding to this."  He said that among California tribes in particular, "you're starting to see the outrage" that usually happens when someone tries to get into the exclusive territory of a tribe.

 In later statements, he said that tribes and lotteries can't work together.  He said, "This is not a dialogue or a discussion; we don't settle things with terrorists."

 Chaudhuri says the NIGC needs to be "reactive."
 Chaudhuri, who was chair of the NIGC from 2013 to 2019, looked into the details of how native gaming is regulated.  He talked about the background of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), which was a federal law passed in 1988 that set the rules for Indian gaming in the US.  The NIGC was also set up by IGRA. It is one of the government agencies that deals with tribal gaming.

 When it comes to enforcement, Chaudhuri agreed that the board does not have a lot of power.  The NIGC helps the tribes with their regulatory work and acts as a link between the tribes and the government.  States also have a small part to play in control sometimes.  The committee is also mostly limited to what IGRA says.  This makes it hard to be on top of new things as they happen.

 Chaudhuri said, "The NIGC has to be very reactive in many ways."

 During the whole conversation, he did say that IGRA makes it clear that tribes must be the main beneficiaries and have full ownership interests in gaming operations.  It also makes it clear how to defend Indian lands.

 "It is against the law for gaming to happen on tribal land that isn't run by the tribe," he said.  "That's a conversation about what's going on when it comes to sweepstakes."

 California tribes have a variety of ways to enforce laws.
 Chaudhuri said that there are ways to enforce the law if it is found that a business is working illegally on tribal lands.  They apply to any group, whether it's tribal or, in the case of contests, business.

 He used fines and orders to close as easy examples.  "That kind of letter I wrote when I worked at the NIGC," he said.  The NIGC can also look over games asked for by tribes and decide if they are Class II or III.  For those reviews to be more useful, the game's provider needs to be involved. This seems to be the case with contests.

 Since tribes are the main regulators, they can also take similar steps to police the law.  Rocha and Giles asked if, in theory, all of the state's gaming tribes could do this to sweepstakes providers as a group.

 Chaudhuri didn't say that was a good idea, but he did say that it is technically possible.  He did say again, though, that this only applies to tribal areas and that there "is not one uniform compact" in California.  Each group has its own deal with the government.

 When we talk about this, compacts are very important.
 Several times, the part that compacts play in this argument was brought up.  Chaudhuri said that "a lot of compacts will have provisions in the revenue-sharing portions" of the agreements that make them null and void if there is an illegal expansion or breach of exclusivity.

 Most of the time, Indian Country doesn't pay taxes to a state for games that happen on its land.  But sometimes, tribes agree to deal with states where they share income.  As an example, the Seminole group in Florida agrees to pay the state hundreds of millions of dollars every year.  But starting in 2019, the tribe stopped paying those bills because it said the state was letting business card rooms get in the way of its exclusivity.

 Since states often do gain from sharing revenue, they want to stop sweepstakes to make sure that their cut of revenue is not lost.  But it's hard for even the NIGC to get state and federal officials to agree that it's important.

 Chaudhuri said, "It's an education problem that will never die."  He said that the NIGC is always working with other government officials and groups to make sure that Native problems are taken seriously.  This rule applies to all kinds of gambling, not just sweepstakes. It could be seen as an invasion of privacy for skill games, card rooms, and other types of gaming.

 "Every week it gets worse"
 Finally, Giles and Rocha emphasised how important the problem is for California tribes once more.

 Giles complained, "This is getting worse by the week." He was referring to the fact that the Legendz social gaming and sportsbook had just opened in 43 states, including California.  To show this, Rocha said that it was like a company building a dam upstream from a reservation.  He said that the effects might not be clear right away, but they will definitely have an impact on future infrastructure.

 Rocha said that in upcoming episodes, they should talk to tribes in Connecticut and other states that interact with these sites in a more direct way.

 "The business world is behind us, but we need to take the lead," he said.  "We've been in that situation before."