Rhode Island Tribal Gaming

There are no tribal casinos in Rhode Island.

The Narragansett Tribe of Indians has made multiple attempts over the past 20 years to open a casino in the state.

In 1991, it purchased 31 acres of land and applied to have it put into trust.

In 1998, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) placed the land into trust, but the state appealed this decision, citing the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (IRA).

Among other things, the IRA gives authority for the federal government to take land into trust, for tribes that are "now under Federal jurisdiction."

Rhode Island argued that the IRA specifies land-into-trust decisions could only apply to tribes that received federal recognition in and prior to 1934. Since the Narragansett Tribe of Indians did not receive federal recognition until 1983, the state contended the BIA did not have the jurisdiction to take the 31 acres into trust.

The case was appealed several times (in 2003, 2005 and 2007) before arriving at the U.S. Supreme Court, in Donald L. Carcieri, Governor of Rhode Island v. Ken L. Salazar, Secretary of the Interior, et al. In each of the earlier hearings, the court ruled in favor of the Department of the Interior and the tribe.

The Supreme Court, however, determined the language in the IRA was clear in reference to which tribes could receive land into trust, upholding the state's assertions and reversing the Narragansett Tribe of Indians' land-into-trust determination.

Several efforts, the most recent in 2015 have been made to amend the IRA with the "Carcieri fix," which would reaffirm the BIA's authority to take land into trust for all federally recognized Indian tribes, regardless of when they were recognized. The efforts, so far, have failed.