BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge is standing by his ruling preventing a Martha’s Vineyard-based Indian tribe from opening a small gambling facility on the island.
Judge Dennis Saylor on Wednesday denied a request from the Aquinnah Wampanoag to reconsider his November decision rejecting the tribe’s proposal to turn an unfinished community center into a gambling hall.
The tribe asked the judge to revisit the decision citing “several material errors” as well as legal arguments from two tribal gambling efforts in Texas.
Saylor concluded state and local laws banning gambling applied to the tribe because it failed to demonstrate sufficient governmental control over its settlement lands.
The tribe, which argued the National Indian Gaming Act gave them right to build the bingo hall, is expected to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals.
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