For Immediate Release ~ March 1, 2004

Washington, DC  — The following is a statement by National Indian Gaming Commission Chairman Phil Hogen upon hearing the news that the United States Supreme Court denied petitions for certiorari in United States v. Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska and Ashcroft v. Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma.

"The Supreme Court's decision to let stand the decisions of the Courts of Appeal in these significant cases addressing the scope of gaming by Indian tribes, permissible as Class II and without the requirement of a Tribal-State compact, brings further clarity to an issue important to gaming in Indian Country and its thorough regulation."

"Those earlier decisions formed the basis of regulatory steps the National Indian Gaming Commission has taken recently to distinguish Class II devices that tribes can use in the absence of compacts. Further progress in this area can now be made, and hopefully soon the controversies in this area will be put to rest."

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