The Arizona Tribal Gaming Regulators Alliance, or ATGRA for short, is the de-facto overseer of the main regulatory bodies of Native American casinos in Arizona. The Arizona Tribal Gaming Regulators Alliance is made out of commissioners and executive directors of Arizona tribal regulatory agencies whereas every gaming tribe in the state is represented in the organization.

Tribal members, representing each of the regulatory agencies responsible for overseeing Arizona Indian gaming, meet frequently under the banner of the Arizona Tribal Gaming Regulators Alliance. In their meetings, they discuss gaming operations and their regulatory efforts. The goal of ATGRA is to create consistency in the regulations of tribal gaming operations.

Members of the alliance exchange ideas and help each other in the strive to raise the standards of Native American gaming. The Arizona Tribal Gaming Regulators Alliance also conducts educational seminars where they meet with members of the public to discuss the current state of Indian casino gaming and answer all their questions about it.

Members of the Arizona Tribal Gaming Regulators Alliance (ATGRA)

There are currently 16 tribes which take part in the Indian gaming industry in Arizona. All Arizona tribes that conduct casino operations are represented in the alliance of regulators (ATGRA). Owners of Indian casinos based in Arizona will be close dialogue with members.

The member tribes of the Arizona Tribal Gaming Regulators Alliance are as follows: Ak-Chin, Cocopah Indian Tribe, Colorado River Indian Tribes, Gila River Gaming Commission, Fort McDowell Yavapai, Fort Mojave, Navajo Nation, Pasqua Yaqui Tribe, Quechan, San Carlos Apache Tribe, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Tohono O’Odham, Tonto Apache Tribal Gaming, Yavapai Apache Tribe, Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe, and White Mountain Apache.

ATGRA and Their Mission

ATGRA, along with all Arizona gambling regulators, works for the social, political, and economic advancement of Indian tribes on the territory of Arizona. They form as a vital relationship with Arizona Indian casinos.

Arizona is home to over 294,000 Native Americans and as such it’s the state with the biggest Native American population. About 27% of Arizona’s land, belongs to Indian tribes, making it the state with the highest percentage of reservation lands in the country. Indian casinos in AZ are thriving under strong regulation and the guidance of agencies such as ATGRA.

Indian regulatory agencies want to protect the welfare of Indian people and ensure that they are self-reliant by investing gaming revenue in social programs that improve the state of Native American economics in Arizona, along with health care, education, and conservation of land and wildlife.

Indian casinos and regulators employ thousands of people and they are thus some of the largest employers of Native Americans. The goal of ATGRA and the participating regulatory bodies is for Native American tribes in Arizona to not only survive, but to thrive in their native lands through self-governance.

History of Gambling in Arizona

Nowadays, one can easily gamble in Arizona as the state even legalized sports betting recently; that didn’t use to be the case though. Indian casinos in AZ were not a part of the country’s gaming landscape until relatively recently compare to other states.

Arizona is one of the states that had banned gambling from the moment it officially became a state (February 14, 1912). One reason for that might have been the high concentration of Mormons in the state who are strictly against gambling.

The process of legalization in Arizona mirrors that of other states. The state first legalized betting on horse and dog races in the 1940’s (dog racing was, however, banned in 2016) and then, in 1980, it established the Arizona Lottery. Still, there were no casinos until the Supreme Court and the federal government stepped in.

History of Indian Gaming in the United States

The game changed with the passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) in 1988 which led to the beginning of the establishment of Indian casinos in Arizona. Let’s discuss the background of this law first.

Gambling has been a natural practice among many tribes for centuries. In the 1970’s, many tribes founded bingo halls to boost the economy of their native communities.

Some states such as California and Minnesota pushed against these efforts, which brought about two significant Supreme Court casesBryan v. Itasca County (1976) and California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians (1987). The Supreme Court ruled in favor to the petitioners in both cases.

The former case established that states had no jurisdiction over civil regulatory laws, while the latter confirmed that gambling could be conducted on tribal land as long as state law didn’t prohibit all forms of gambling. This was a key moment for the future of Arizona tribal casinos.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988

These two cases paved the way for the federal government to propose unified legislation of gaming on tribal lands. On February 19, 1987, Senator Daniel Inouye (HI), introduced the bill, which became the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Congress approved it in September 1988.

The act was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on October 17, 1988; Reagan is famous for encouraging Indian self determination. Therefor, native American casinos in states like Arizona were only a matter of time.

The federal government noted that some tribes have already benefitted from opening a bingo hall on Indian lands, so politicians agreed that legalizing casino style gaming would give more power and more influence to tribal governments.

The purpose of the act was to provide a statuary basis of Indian gaming, which had not existed until then, and to promote tribal sovereignty and economic independence. The act also gave tribes the exclusive right to regulate their own gambling industry unless such casino games were banned by the federal or state government.

Tribes were allowed to establish casinos in Indian country whereas each tribe could regulate their own casino operations. The National Indian Gaming Commission was founded to oversee Indian gaming in the country. The commission is independent, but it works closely with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Three Gaming Classes

The act also established three classes of games.

Class I is (1) traditional Indian gaming, usually occurring during tribal ceremonies and celebrations; (2) social gaming for minimal prizes.

Class II gaming is defined as game of chance. Class II games include pull tabs, bingo, and non-banked card games where players play against each other rather than the house. Slot machines were specifically excluded from class II games.

Class III gaming has a much broader definition. It includes all casino games that were not included in class I and class II. Class III games include classic casino games like slot machines, blackjack, craps, and roulette.

Indian casinos were not allowed to conduct class III games unless the games were otherwise legal in the state, or the state and the tribe had negotiated a compact, or the tribe had adopted a Tribal gaming ordinance approved by the Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission.

History of Indian Gaming in Arizona

There were 22 Indian tribes in Arizona that could begin operating casinos in Indian reservations, which were mainly in remote areas. Several tribes immediately opened casinos when the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed. Arizona tribal casinos firmly established themselves in the state’s gaming industry following this legislation.

However, some of these tribal casinos had illegal gaming machines; slot machines were specifically forbidden unless the tribe could negotiate a compact with the state; none of these tribes had such compacts. The National Indian Gaming Commission confirmed the necessity of compacts in 1992 to improve the AZ gaming landscape.

This prompted the Arizona Governor, Fife Symington, to call upon the U.S. Attorney in Phoenix AZ to shut down these illegal gaming operations. FBI agents raided five casinos as a result.

One Arizona Indian casino, Fort McDowell Casino, refused to allow the agents confiscate their slot machines and blocked the road, so the FBI couldn’t haul them away. This resulted in a standoff that lasted for eight hours until the agents left; another three weeks of civil resistance followed.

There were many legal challenges, but Gov. Symington began signing the first Indian casino compacts in 1992 and had signed 16 compacts until 1994. Another compact was signed by his successor, Gov. Jane Hull, in 1998. In the following years, other tribes have also received compacts.

These compacts gave tribal governments the right to have class III games in their casinos. There were, however, limits in Arizona gaming as to how many slot machines and casino style games there could be in one tribal casino. The compacts also allowed the State of Arizona to ensure compliance with the regulations set in them.

The first set of compacts was for the period of 1993 till 2003. Arizona voters voted for the state to sign a renewal of the compacts in 2002. The compacts are renewed once every 10 years.

The most recent development in the Indian gambling in Arizona occurred in 2021 when Gov. Doug Ducey and all Arizona gaming tribes signed into law the Amended Tribal-State Gaming Compacts. These compacts led to changes to Indian casinos in Arizona and allowed tribes to add new games to their casinos such as roulette, craps, and baccarat

Regulatory Bodies in Arizona

Each tribe is allowed by law to regulate its own Indian casinos, abiding to the principle of self-determination. Consequently, there are many regulators in Arizona that work tirelessly to ensure the integrity of gaming in the state. In addition to tribal regulators, there are a few state regulators as well, so we are going to list all of them.

State Regulatory Agencies

The gaming regulators of the state of Arizona are as follows: Arizona Department of Gaming, Arizona Department of Gaming Division of Racing, Arizona Department of Revenue, and Arizona Lottery. Native American casinos in Arizona maintain strong relationship and dialogue between themselves and these regulatory bodies.

Indian Gaming Regulatory Agencies

There are currently 16 regulators that oversee gaming on tribal lands. They are naturally members of ATGRA as well.

The regulators in question are: Ak-Chin Tribal Gaming Agency, Cocopah Gaming Commission, Colorado River Indian Tribes Tibal Gaming Agency, Fort McDowell Tribal Gaming Office, Fort Mojave Gaming Commission, Gila River Gaming Commission, Navajo Nation Gaming Regulatory Office, Pascua Yaqui Tribal Gaming Commission, Quechan Tribal Gaming Commission, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Regulatory Agency, San Carlos Apache Tribal Gaming Commission, Tohono O’odham Gaming Office, Tonto Apache Gaming Office, White Mountain Apache Gaming Commission, Yavapai-Apache Gaming Commission, and Yavapai-Prescott Gaming Commission.

In addition, there is federal oversight in the face of the National Indian Gaming Commission regarding AZ gaming.

How Does Gambling Regulation Work in Arizona

As we already mentioned, federal law and the state of Arizona ensure tribal sovereignty by allowing for each and every tribe to regulate their own Indian casino as they see fit. Of course, they still have to abide to federal and state law and only offer games that were agreed upon in the compacts they signed with the state government.

The reason for the state’s oversight is because Arizona only allowed tribes to offer class III games if they agreed to comply with state regulators.

The Role of the State in Regulations

The Arizona Department of Gaming, for example, inspects gaming machines, monitoring systems, and casino records to make sure that the terms negotiated in the compacts are respected by the tribal governments. Independent labs also test the devices put Indian casinos to ensure they work as the manufacturer intended.

The department might also perform audits if necessary. While class I and class II gaming is exempt from taxes, class III isn’t. Tribes are obliged to contribute a portion of their revenue to the state, along with cities and counties.

The tax scheme from Arizona gaming works as follows – 12% of the tribal contribution goes towards cities, towns and counties of choice and they go towards community services and local governments. The remaining 88% is allocated to the Arizona Department of Gaming (9%), the Division of Problem Gambling (2%), education (56%), health care (28%), tourism (8%), and wildlife conservation (8%).

The Role of Native American Tribes in Regulations

All of the agencies that we mentioned in the previous sections regulate their own operations, as is normal for native American casinos in Arizona.

What this means is that they first make sure that their operations comply with state and federal law. They also choose the offered games (state-approved if class III), they test them, they have fair practices in place such as responsible gaming initiatives that curb addiction, they deal with possible fraud and they also resolve any disputes that players might have with an Indian casino.

Depending on which casino you choose, you have to refer to its specific regulator, which would be a tribal agency. This even applies to class III casinos that offer Las Vegas style gaming. The Arizona Department of Gaming does not resolve disputes.

In addition, the AZ gaming tribes meet at ATGRA conferences to ensure consistency in their regulations and to better the regulatory process. They are constantly in touch to ensure that regulations do not significantly differ from one casino to another.

Casinos on Tribal Lands in Arizona

There are currently 25 Arizona casinos on tribal lands and they are operated by 16 tribes and their respective regulatory agencies. There are no commercial casinos in Arizona, meaning that every casino belongs to a certain tribe. It is, however, possible for commercial operators to gain footing in Arizona, but they must “fly the banner” of a certified tribe to operate. The number of new Indian casinos in Arizona is slowly growing, with further applications for future venues arriving in the pipeline.

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

What responsibilities does ATGRA have?

ATGRA is responsible for creating a consistency in gaming regulations in Arizona and for raising the standards of the regulatory process. It’s comprised of executive directors and commissioners belonging to each gaming tribe. Indian casinos in AZ benefit from the oversight from ATGRA and the insight of its members.

Who regulates Indian casinos in Arizona?

Every tribe regulates its own casinos. There are currently 16 tribal regulators. The Arizona Department of Gaming offers oversight into Indian casinos in Arizona in some areas as well.

Who regulates Indian casinos in the United States?

The federal body that regulates Indian casinos in the United States is the National Indian Gaming Commission. The U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior work closely with the commission as they are tasked with duties related to gaming and Indian gaming. As a result, all native American casinos in Arizona will be regulated by these agencies.

What do the regulators do to help Indian Casinos in Arizona?

Regulators are responsible for conducting safe and fair gambling operations. First and foremost, they ensure compliance with the law (federal and state law). They test gaming devices and software, they also prevent fraud and ensure that they provide help to those with gambling problems. Lastly, they resolve any disputes that might arise.