Alert 06.18.25
Alert
Alert
07.17.25
A new piece of federal legislation has been introduced to address a decades-old inconsistency in federal law relating to Tribal gaming regulations for two Tribes located in Texas. In 1987, Congress enacted the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama-Coushatta Indian Tribes of Texas Restoration Act (Restoration Act), which restored the trust relationship between the two Tribes and the U.S. government, while reserving for the State of Texas the right to prohibit certain kinds of gaming activities within the Tribes’ reservations. A year later, Congress enacted the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), which expressly authorized Tribal gaming on Indian lands as a matter of federal law and allowed a limited role for states by requiring Tribal-state gaming compacts for certain gaming activities.
At present, under the Restoration Act, the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama-Coushatta Tribes are subject to both state and federal gaming regulations, while all other federally recognized Tribes are subject only to the rules set forth in. Sections 107 and 207 of the Restoration Act purport to allow the state of Texas authority to regulate gaming, while IGRA provides for federal regulation on Indian gaming.
SCOTUS Decision: Interplay Between the Restoration Act and IGRA
In Ysleta del Sur Pueblo v. Texas, 596 U.S. 685 (2022), the Court held that the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo could continue offering bingo, despite Section 107 of the Restoration Act, because Texas law regulated—but did not expressly prohibit—the activity. The Court clarified that if the Restoration Act applies, only gaming activities explicitly prohibited by Texas law would be barred. Therefore, the Court held that activities which are merely regulated, rather than prohibited, fall outside the scope of the Restoration Act and are instead governed by IGRA, not Texas law. In this case, the activity at issue—bingo—violated Texas law but not IGRA. The Court concluded that Texas lacked authority to regulate bingo under the Restoration Act and could only prohibit it if the game was banned across the state. Texas conceded that its law did not ban bingo outright, but instead permitted the game subject to specific time, place and manner restrictions. Because the Texas law did not prohibit bingo, but merely regulated it, the Court held it fell outside of the scope of the Restoration Act, and bingo could only be regulated under IGRA, not Texas law.
Although Ysleta del Sur Pueblo clarified that the two Tribes may offer gaming activities not expressly prohibited under Texas law, the decision did not fully resolve the overlap between IGRA and the Restoration Act’s regulatory provisions, leaving the two Tribes with uncertainty about the regulatory rules that apply to gaming activities on their lands.
HR 3723’s Amendment of the Restoration Act
In the aftermath of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, HR 3723 (“Tribal Gaming Regulatory Compliance Act” or “TGRCA”) seeks to ensure that all Native American gaming is subject to the same regulatory framework—that is, IGRA. A version of TGRCA was previously introduced in 2023, but did not pass.
If HR 3723 is enacted, it would remove all provisions in the Restoration Act that grant Texas regulatory authority over certain gaming activities, thereby placing all regulation under the federal framework established by IGRA. Without this legislation, the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama-Coushatta Tribes would remain subject to inconsistent oversight by both the State of Texas and the federal government, while all other Tribal gaming is regulated exclusively under federal law.
The proposed bill removes redundant provisions in the Restoration Act that grant states regulatory authority over Native American gaming in conflict with IGRA. The bill also amends the Restoration Act to expressly affirm that IGRA applies in full to both the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama-Coushatta Tribes. The TGRCA does not expand the scope of gaming or alter the types of permissible gaming but rather clarifies that all federally recognized Tribes eligible for gaming will be subject to a uniform regulatory framework under IGRA.
Specifically, TGRCA proposes to repeal Sections 107 and 207 of the Restoration Act and insert the following provision after Section 2:
SEC. 3 Rule of construction. This Act shall be construed to ensure the full applicability of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) to gaming activities on Indian lands of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Indian lands of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe.
This amendment clarifies congressional intent to apply IGRA in its entirety to the gaming operations of these two Tribes, thereby aligning them with the regulatory treatment of all other federally recognized Tribes.
Congressman Morgan Luttrell (R-TX) introduced TGRCA on June 4, 2025. The bill is co-sponsored by Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (D-TX) and Congressman Brian Babin (R-TX), reflecting bipartisan support. All three representatives were co-sponsors of the 2023 version of the legislation. HR 3723 has been referred to the House Natural Resources Committee, where it awaits consideration. The next step is consideration and approval by the committee, and eventually the full House of Representatives; however, given the failure of the prior version of the TGRCA, the prospects and timeline for advancement remain uncertain.