Opinion ID: 494711
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Tribal Enterprise

Text: 62 The State asserts that Creek Nation Bingo is not a tribal enterprise, and thus it and its manager ICUSA are not shielded from state regulation. We disagree. The district court found that 63 Creek Nation Bingo is a tribal bingo enterprise owned, governed and controlled by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The tribal bingo enterprise was established by the Creek National Council and is controlled and supervised by the Muscogee (Creek) Public Gaming Commissioner. Muscogee Nation Public Gaming Ordinance, NCA-84-04 (March 9, 1984). 64 Indian Country U.S.A., Inc., is a South Dakota corporation which serves as the general partner of the limited partnership Indian Country, U.S.A., a Limited Partnership # 1. It operates Creek Nation Bingo under a management agreement approved by the National Council, Ordinance NCA-84-07 (March 15, 1984), the Principal Chief and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Under the agreement, Indian Country U.S.A., Inc., is the agent of the Nation in the day-to-day operations of the bingo enterprise. The agreement also provides that the profits of the enterprise are to be distributed between the tribe and the management company. Even though Indian Country U.S.A., Inc., provided the start-up capital for construction and development of the tribal bingo hall, under the agreement it is fully compensated for its management services and its venture capital investment. 65 The court further finds the Creek Nation, with the federal government acting as trustee on behalf of the tribe, owns all of the real property associated with the enterprise, including the Mackey site, and all improvements thereon. 66 Rec., vol. I, doc. 106, at 12-13 (footnote omitted). 67 The evidence in the record amply supports the district court conclusion that Creek Nation Bingo is a tribal enterprise. The Creek Nation retains full ownership rights over the land and facility and ultimate control over the bingo activities. Furthermore, whatever the specific arrangements for daily management control, return of capital, and distribution of profits, it is clear that the Creek Nation developed the bingo enterprise for the benefit of the tribe. It is also clear that benefits are in fact flowing to the tribe, in the form of both profits and employment. See rec., vol. IV, at 83 (testimony of Gary Breshears) (tribal bingo profits appropriated to health care); id., vol. VI, at 428 (testimony of Gordon Sjodin) (less than ten percent of Creek Nation Bingo employees had a prior job); id. at 427 (eighty percent of Creek Nation Bingo employees are Creeks). 68 The Bureau of Indian Affairs has approved the Creek Nation-ICUSA management contract. Particularly in light of federal policies encouraging tribal bingo enterprises, economic development, and substitution of private sector investment for federal economic assistance, the district court properly declined to give much weight to the fact that the Creek Nation has engaged non-Indian capital and expertise in developing and operating Creek Nation Bingo. Although this issue was apparently not raised in Cabazon, the bingo games there were characterized as operated by non-Indian professional operators, who receive a percentage of the profits. Cabazon, 783 F.2d at 901; see also Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Butterworth, 658 F.2d 310, 311 (5th Cir.1981) (tribe contracted with private limited partnership to build and operate bingo hall on Indian reservation in exchange for percentage of profits as management fees), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1020, 102 S.Ct. 1717, 72 L.Ed.2d 138 (1982). We thus agree with the district court that Creek Nation Bingo is a tribal enterprise and that its immunity from state regulation extends to ICUSA. 7