Comment on Ruling could close popular bingo hall near Woodville

Citing that the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe does not follow the "gaming laws and regulations of Texas," a federal judge ruled this week to shut down the tribe's popular electronic bingo hall 90 miles north of Beaumont. U.S. Magistrate Keith Giblin wrote in an order filed Tuesday that he had "sympathy for the Tribe's position" because it is "bearing the brunt of a conflicting statutory scheme" that some might call "unjust." The tribe has operated Naskila Gaming, a facility with more than 360 electronic bingo games, since May 2016 under the approval of the National Indian Gaming Commission, a federal regulatory agency.