§1166 — Title 18 Crimes and Criminal Procedure | U.S. Code

Summary

State gambling laws about licensing, regulating, or banning gambling must apply in Indian country the same way they apply elsewhere in the State, unless the exceptions below apply. A person in Indian country who does or fails to do something involving gambling that would be a State crime where it happened is guilty of the same crime and faces the same punishment. "Gambling" here does not include: class I gaming or class II gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, or class III gaming run under a Tribal‑State compact that the Secretary of the Interior approved under section 11(d)(8) and that is in effect. Only the United States can bring criminal cases for violations of State gambling laws made applicable by this rule, unless an Indian tribe has agreed in a Tribal‑State compact approved under section 11(d)(8) or under another federal law to let the State take criminal jurisdiction over gambling on the tribe’s lands.

Title 18, §1166

Crimes and Criminal Procedure — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Subject to subsection (c), for purposes of Federal law, all State laws pertaining to the licensing, regulation, or prohibition of gambling, including but not limited to criminal sanctions applicable thereto, shall apply in Indian country in the same manner and to the same extent as such laws apply elsewhere in the State.

(b)Whoever in Indian country is guilty of any act or omission involving gambling, whether or not conducted or sanctioned by an Indian tribe, which, although not made punishable by any enactment of Congress, would be punishable if committed or omitted within the jurisdiction of the State in which the act or omission occurred, under the laws governing the licensing, regulation, or prohibition of gambling in force at the time of such act or omission, shall be guilty of a like offense and subject to a like punishment.

(c)For the purpose of this section, the term “gambling” does not include—

(1)class I gaming or class II gaming regulated by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, or

(2)class III gaming conducted under a Tribal-State compact approved by the Secretary of the Interior under section 11(d)(8) of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act that is in effect.

(d)The United States shall have exclusive jurisdiction over criminal prosecutions of violations of State gambling laws that are made applicable under this section to Indian country, unless an Indian tribe pursuant to a Tribal-State compact approved by the Secretary of the Interior under section 11(d)(8) of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, or under any other provision of Federal law, has consented to the transfer to the State of criminal jurisdiction with respect to gambling on the lands of the Indian tribe.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, referred to in subsec. (c), is Pub. L. 100–497, Oct. 17, 1988, 102 Stat. 2467, which enacted sections 1166 to 1168 of this title and chapter 25 (§ 2701 et seq.) of Title 25, Indians. section 11(d)(8) of such Act is classified to section 2710(d)(8) of Title 25. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 2701 of Title 25 and Tables.

§1166 Gambling in Indian country