In what’s being dubbed a major victory for tribal sovereignty, the U.S. Supreme Court Monday declined to take up the case of the former Maverick Gaming in its challenge to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and compacts. The decision was announced at a tribal-gaming session at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas.
Maverick, which is now known as RunItOneTime and has filed for bankruptcy protection, sued federal and Washington state officials and requested that tribal gaming compacts in Washington state be invalidated. Maverick lost the case in federal district court and on appeal to the Ninth Circuit. The case involved the Shoalwater Bay Tribe.
“The legitimacy of the entire compacting process under IGRA (was threatened) and it’s very good to see the litigation finally come to an end,” said Scott Crowell, a tribal-gaming attorney who announced the result to the applause of the G2E session where he was speaking.
The company challenged a 2020 law allowing sports betting on tribal lands only in Washington. The lawsuit claims the existing law established a “discriminatory tribal gaming monopoly.”
“The Supreme Court has once again rejected a meritless suit that sought to attack the very heart of tribal rights,” said Lenny Powell, a staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund in a statement.
RunItOneTime officials did not respond to a request for comment.
“Maverick’s suit threatened Shoalwater’s bargained-for gaming compacts, its economic welfare, and its ability to fund critical government functions. We and other tribes in Washington were the real parties in interest in this case, and the courts rightfully refused to allow Maverick to challenge our rights in our absence,” said Shoalwater Bay Tribe Chairman Quintin Swanson.
