Alabama Coushatta Indian Reservation Casino Livingston Texas
Fourteen years after it was forced to shut down its successful casino near Livingston, Texas, the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe announced it will open a Class II gaming facility with 300 electronic games in the same location. The “entertainment center” will be completed next year, said spokesperson Carlos Bullock. “We feel like we can be successful with this venture and people want it,” he said.
The state shut down the Alabama-Coushatta’s casino after it was open only nine months. Texas claimed the tribe was required to follow state gaming under the Alabama-Coushatta Restoration Act signed in 1987, which granted the tribe federal recognition. But the tribe said the Indian Gaming Regulation Act of 1988 allowed gambling on reservation land. Texas officials challenged that, and the U. S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Texas, resulting in the closure of the casino.
Stay with the Alabama-Coushatta Indians on Texas' Oldest Indian Reservation. The Lake Tombigbee Campground is an enterprise of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe. Located on Lake Tombigbee, our campground is the perfect, fun and affordable weekend getaway. Bring the family for the day or camp with us overnight! The Alabama-Coushatta Indian Tribal Council Employment & Training Program is a Tribal Program that was formed in 1973. The program was designed by the Department of Labor’s Division of Indian and Native American Programs (DINAP) and is managed by the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas. The Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation Campground is an out of the way oasis in the middle of the Big Thicket of East Texas. Lots of tall pine trees throughout the campground. Lake Tombigbee (manmade) has fishing, swimming and boat rentals as well to paddle around. In just a few short weeks, the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas has plans to open a Class II gaming facility. The former Livingston Entertainment Center on its reservation is being converted by the tribe into Naskila Entertainment.
Naskila Gaming is an electronic bingo casino owned by the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe in Livingston, Texas. In a newly-released study by the Texas Forest Country Partnership (TFCP), Naskila Gaming was recognized as the second largest employer in Polk County.
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But recently the tribe asked the Department of Interior and the National Indian Gaming Commission to clarify their legal standing in regard to gambling. In October, the Interior Department and the NIGC determined the Alabama-Coushatta do indeed have the right to offer bingo and electronic bingo on the reservation. Michael Odle of the NIGC said, “After evaluating that court decision it is in our belief, as well as the Department of the Interior, it provides the tribes in Texas the ability to game under Class II gaming.”
Bullokc said, “It has cost our tribe dearly over the years. We were cut out of gaming because of the language in the restoration act, even though Texas law itself had actually changed and the state got the lottery and bingo and horse racing and dog tracks. But we were shut out.” He added the tribe has not yet submitted a facility license for the site. “It’s a huge opportunity for the tribe. We’ve looked forward to this for many years. We’ve finally accomplished it and we’re going to do what the NGIC and the Department of the Interior have allowed us to do,” Bullock said.
The reopening of the casino will create 150 jobs and help the tribe fund higher education and housing for members. “When we were open before we generated about $1 million a month. When we closed, it was devastating to the tribe. It was a huge impact to lose that kind of revenue, and all those jobs,” Bullock stated.
“A lot of these gaming revenues go to government services, health and education, welfare-type programs, cultural preservation programs. So you’re seeing generation after generation of Native Americans benefitting from Indian gaming,” Odle said.
Alabama Coushatta Powwow
The Kickapoo tribe, the only Native American tribe in Texas with permission to oversee gambling, offers electronic gambling, poker and bingo at its Eagle Pass operation. The gambling operation of the Tigua tribe of El Paso was shut down before Alabama-Coushatta, also because of a federal court ruling on a state legal challenge.
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Legal experts expect the Texas attorney general will challenge the Alabama-Coushatta’s reopening.