- The commission has run without an acting or permanent chair since Jan. 13, when Sharon Avery’s term ended.
- It approved two gaming ordinance amendments nationwide in 2026, neither in California, down from 19 in 2025.
- California’s most recent approval went to the Soboba Band of Luiseno Mission Indians on Nov. 24, 2025.
- Compacts, land into trust and per capita revenue plans go through Interior, not the commission, and are unaffected.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – No California tribe has had a gaming ordinance approved by the National Indian Gaming Commission in more than eight months, leaving California tribal gaming waiting on a chairmanship the agency has gone without since Jan. 13.
What California Has Waiting At The Commission
The commission’s gaming ordinance approval list carries 19 approvals for 2025 and two for 2026, the Ak Chin Indian Community on Jan. 12 and the White Earth Band of Minnesota Chippewa Indians on Feb. 12. Every one of them amends an ordinance already on file.
California accounted for eight of the 19 in 2025. The most recent went to the Soboba Band of Luiseno Mission Indians on Nov. 24, then the Quechan Tribe of the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation on Oct. 2, the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians on Sept. 30 and June 2, the Tule River Indian Tribe on Sept. 17, the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation and the Jamul Indian Village of California on Aug. 5, and the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians on March 25.
An ordinance is not a formality. Under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act a tribe must have one approved by the commission’s chair before it conducts Class II or Class III gaming, and an amendment is the document a tribe files to add a game, authorize a new facility or change its regulatory terms. The chair also approves the management contracts under which an outside operator runs a tribal casino’s business.
Bulletin No. 2026-1, issued Jan. 13, sets out how the agency runs without one. It delegates the chair’s authority over hiring, supervision of staff and procurement to the vice chair, and delegates temporary closure orders, proposed civil fine assessments and ordinance approvals for use only in an emergency. Management contract approval appears in neither delegation. The bulletin says the arrangement holds until an acting chair is appointed or a permanent chair is confirmed.
What Interior Approves Instead
Not everything California tribes need from Washington sits at the commission. Tribal-state Class III compacts and Secretarial Procedures are approved by the Interior Department, and the California Gambling Control Commission counts 62 tribes with compacts and 19 operating under Secretarial Procedures.
Land into trust and gaming-eligibility determinations under Section 2719 of the act are Interior’s as well. So are revenue allocation plans, the documents a tribe must have before it distributes gaming profits as per capita payments, which 25 U.S.C. Section 2710(b)(3) and 25 C.F.R. Part 290 assign to the Secretary of the Interior.
Interior has kept signing. Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs William H. Kirkland III issued a 39-page reconsideration decision on July 30 finding that the 160.33 acres the Scotts Valley Band holds in the city of Vallejo do not qualify as restored lands, reversing a January 2025 determination. The bid had already stalled once this year, in the review that ended with Koi Nation’s casino losing its land as Scotts Valley’s Vallejo bid stalled.
Kirkland sits on both sides of that line. The commission’s roster lists him as vice chairman, appointed to a three-year term as an associate commissioner on May 29, and its June 1 announcement said he continues as assistant secretary for Indian Affairs.
Cardrooms, the state lottery and horse racing fall outside the act entirely and are governed by California gambling laws and state regulators.
Sixty-Seven Casinos, Every One Under An Ordinance
Sixty-four tribes operate 67 casinos in California, according to the state gambling commission, 48 of them under compacts and 16 under Secretarial Procedures. Those are the properties that anchor gambling in California, and each one runs under an ordinance the federal chair signed.
The commission’s Sacramento region, which covers California and northern Nevada, was the largest of its eight regions in fiscal 2025 at $12.6 billion, part of the record $46.2 billion national total the commission reported July 21.
What Happens Next
Under the act the commission has three full-time members. The president nominates the chair, subject to Senate confirmation, and the Secretary of the Interior appoints the two associate commissioners. Both associate seats are filled, by Kirkland and by Avery, who returned to her associate seat on Jan. 13. The commission’s roster lists no chair.