Tribe hopes gaming forces legal action
Apache group plans to prove it can operate casino in New Mexico.
Fort Sill Apaches hope gaming forces legal action
Published: June 24, 2008
DEMING, N.M. — The head of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma says a poker tournament at the tribe's southern New Mexico casino is aimed at forcing a decision on the legality of gambling at the casino.
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About Fort Sill Apaches
Members of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe are descended from the Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apaches, who lived in parts of New Mexico, Arizona and northern Mexico but were removed in the 1880s and sent first to Florida and then to Oklahoma.
The land for the casino was purchased by the tribe in 1998 and taken into trust by the Interior Department for the tribe in 2002. Federal law prohibits gambling on Indian lands taken into trust after October 1988, except under certain conditions.
Poker tournament to send winner to Las Vegas
Houser said he believes Sunday's poker tournament counts as Class II gaming, which the tribe contends it should be allowed to hold at its New Mexico casino.
Sixteen people paid $50 each to enter the four-hour Texas Hold'em poker tournament. Casino officials said the entry fee plus money added by the tribe made up the grand prize of $10,000, which would go to pay the entry fee into next month's World Series of Poker Main Event held in Las Vegas.
The gaming manager for the Apache Homelands Casino, Gary Meyers, said he didn't have specifics about how players were invited.
Most of the participants were from nearby El Paso, Texas, and had ties to Ysleta del Sur Pueblo near El Paso.


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