Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-493_jgko.pdf
Page Number: 31

Cite as:  596 U. S. ____ (2022) 

7 

ROBERTS, C. J., dissenting 

of bingo, because whether a player wins turns on “historical 
bingo draws.”  Ibid.1 

In  addition  to  these  electronic  gaming  machines,  the
Tribe also offered live-called bingo 24 hours a day.  But the 
conditions under which these actual bingo games were con-
ducted  violated  Texas  law  in  many  ways.  See  Tex.  Occ. 
Code Ann. §2001.419 (West Supp. 2021) (setting forth cer-
tain bingo restrictions).

Texas filed suit in federal court seeking injunctive relief 
against  the  Tribe  and  tribal  officials.    The  District  Court 
granted an injunction, holding that “the Tribe’s bingo oper-
ations  fail  to  comply  with  Texas  law.”    2019  WL  639971, 
*11.  The  Fifth  Circuit  affirmed,  concluding  that  in  ex-
change for federal trust status, “the Pueblo agreed that its 
gaming activities would comply with Texas law,” including 
all of the State’s gaming regulations.  955 F. 3d, at 410.  We 
granted certiorari.  595 U. S. ___ (2021). 

II 
At  this  point  in  the  litigation,  the  Tribe  does  not  argue
that  all  of  its  gaming  activities  are  consistent  with  Texas
law.  Rather, it insists that Texas’s gaming laws simply do 
not apply to it, unless Texas categorically bans the playing 
of a particular type of game altogether.  The Tribe does not 
make this argument based primarily on the text or struc-
ture  of  the statute.    It instead  relies  on Cabazon  Band  of 
Mission  Indians,  480  U. S.  202,  which  interpreted  Public 
Law 280.  The Tribe asks us to treat §107 of the Restoration 
Act  as  implicitly  adopting  Cabazon  Band’s  framework, 
which distinguishes between laws that are “ ‘criminal/pro-
hibitory’ ” and laws that are “ ‘civil/regulatory.’ ”  Id., at 209. 
Under  this  framework,  state  laws  that  totally  prohibit  a 

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1 A photograph from the record of this version of “bingo” is appended to
this opinion.  It confirms that the electronic bingo played at the Speaking 
Rock Entertainment Center is about as close to real bingo as Bingo the 
famous dog.