Cabazon Band of Mission Indians v. National Indian Gaming Commission

The National Indian Gaming Commission (commission) (defendant) designated an electronic form of pull-tabs as a class III electronic facsimile of the traditional paper game, which was defined as a class II game by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). Seven Indian tribes, including the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians (collectively, the tribes) (plaintiffs) brought suit in district court, requesting a declaratory judgment that the commission’s classification of the electronic pull-tabs game was improper. The tribes acknowledged that the game in its electronic form was identical to the game in its traditional paper form, each involving tabs on paper cards that, after being drawn from a deck, were pulled back to reveal numbers correlating to a win or loss. However, the tribes contended that Congress did not intend class III “facsimiles” to encompass electronic duplicates, but rather intended the term to refer to electronic devices that copied a traditional game but altered its fundamental characteristics. The tribes pointed to an excerpt from a Senate hearing report that cautioned against class II electronic aids that changed fundamental characteristics of an underlying game to argue that this type of change is a requirement for all class III electronic devices. Finally, the tribes claimed that, at the very least, the term “facsimile” was ambiguous and should be interpreted to benefit Indians under applicable canons of statutory construction. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the commission, determining that electronic pull-tab games constituted class III electronic facsimiles rather than class II electronic aids. The tribes appealed.