New Mexico senator opposes tribal operation
"Bingaman sent letters to Interior Department Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and National Indian Gaming Commission Chairman Philip Hogen, questioning plans by the Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma for a bingo facility in Akela.
"Bingaman noted that the tribe's initial application for trust land at the site, finalized in 2002, didn't list gaming as an allowed use. He requested Kempthorne's intervention.
"...A Bureau of Indian Affairs official recently said the tribe wouldn't need approval to conduct Class II gaming. However, a spokesman with Bingaman's office said that's not the case, and an approval would be needed because the Akela land was placed into federal trust after 1988, when a federal law about Indian gaming went into effect..."