In what appeared to be a losing battle, a village in the Finger Lakes region of New York mounted their case Tuesday to restrict gambling at a reservation casino run by Cayuga Nation members.
The village of Union Springs argued that it should be able to enforce a 1958 ordinance restricting games of chance — although the village does allow the occasional charity bingo game, like in the case of fire department fundraisers.
Union Springs wants a reversal after U.S. District Judge David Hurd in Utica found its local gambling laws preempted by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, a federal statute passed in 1988 to regulate the conduct of gaming on “Indian lands.”
