The National Indian Gaming Commission’s general counsel has withdrawn the agency’s May legal opinion cautioning Oklahoma’s Fort Sill Apache tribe not to open its Apache Homelands Casino in Akela, New Mexico.

NIGC said in a court document that it is “reviewing and reconsidering” the opinion. One report said the tribe has put forth a “new argument” against it.

Fort Sill has argued that it is entitled to its 30-acre casino site 40 miles west of Las Cruces as a restored tribe. NIGC has countered that governmental relations between the feds and Apache bands from which Fort Sill descended before receiving recognition never ceased, so Fort Sill can’t be counted as restored.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who sent state police to prevent the casino from opening with 50 bingo machines earlier this year, “will continue to aggressively resist any efforts by the tribe to operate an illegal casino in New Mexico,” a spokesman said.

The 6,000-square-foot Apache Homelands now runs only a smoke shop and a cafe.

By GGB Staff

Staff writers for Global Gaming Business magazine. Las Vegas, Nevada.