US v. Megamania Gambling Devices
| Decision Date | 31 October 2000 |
| Docket Number | SENECA-CAYUGA,No. 99-5064,99-5064 |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
| Parties | (10th Cir. 2000) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. 162 MEGAMANIA GAMBLING DEVICES, sued as: 162 Megamania gambling devices, more or less, computers, servers, "smart" cards, and related equipment located at the Cherokee Nation Bingo Outpost and Cherokee Palace, Catoosa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma - Cherokee Nation Bingo Outpost - Cherokee Palace, 83 MEGAMANIA GAMBLING DEVICES, sued as: 83 Megamania gambling devices, more or less, computers, servers, "smart" cards, and related equipment located at the Seneca-Cayuga Bingo, Grove, Delaware County, Oklahoma - Seneca-Cayuga Bingo; 40 MEGAMANIA GAMBLING DEVICES, sued as: 40 MegaMania gambling devices, more or less, computers, servers, "smart" cards, and related equipment located at the Cherokee Nation Bingo Outpost, West Siloam Springs, Delaware County, Oklahoma - Cherokee Nation Bingo Outpost; AUTOMATED BINGO BLOWER MACHINE, sued as: Automated bingo blower machine, together with computers and related equipment located at the Choctaw Indian Bingo (Arrowhead Bingo), Choctaw Arrowhead Resort, Canadian, Pittsburg County, Oklahoma - Choctaw Indian Bingo - Arrowhead Bingo - Choctaw Arrowhead Resort; COMPUTERS, NETWORK SERVERS, MODEMS, SOFTWARE, DATABASES & COMPUTER PROGRAMS, sued as: Computers, Network Servers, Modems, Software, Databases and Computer Programs located at Multimedia Games, Inc., Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma which are used to support the play of MegaMania gambling devices in Indian Country - Multimedia Games, Inc.; DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE; JANET RENO, Attorney General of the United States; STEPHEN C. LEWIS, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma, Defendants, CHEROKEE NATION OF OKLAHOMA; CHEROKEE NATION ENTERPRISES; MULTIMEDIA GAMES, INC.; THETRIBE OF OKLAHOMA, Claimants - Appellees, STATE OF OKLAHOMA; CHEYENNE GAMING COMMISSION; ARAPAHO GAMING COMMISSION; NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING ASSOCIATION; CHOCTAW NATION OF OKLAHOMA; THE CHICKASAW NATION, Amici Curiae |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. (N.D. Okla.) (D.Ct. No. 97-CV-1140-K(J)) (D.C. No.97CV-1140-K(J)) Sean Connelly (Stephen C. Lewis, United States Attorney; Catherine J. Depew, Assistant United States Attorney, Northern District of Oklahoma, Tulsa, Oklahoma, with him on the briefs), United States Department of Justice, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Tony M. Graham of Feldman, Hall, Franden, Woodard & Farris, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Jess Green, Seneca Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma, Ada, Oklahoma (Graydon Dean Luthey, Jr. of Hall, Estill, Hardwick, Gable, Golden & Nelson, Tulsa, Oklahoma, for MultiMedia Games, Inc.; John G. Ghostbear, Tulsa, Oklahoma, for Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma; Layn R. Phillips, Gregory R. Smith, and Theodore H. Frank of Irell & Manella LLP, Los Angeles, California, with them on the brief), for Claimants-Appellees.
Neal Leader, Senior Assistant Attorney General for the State of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on the brief for Amicus Curiae State of Oklahoma; Gary S. Pitchlynn of Pitchlynn, Morse, Ritter & Morse, Norman, Oklahoma, for Amicus Curiae The Cheyenne and Arapaho Gaming Commission; Bob Rabon of Rabon, Wolf & Rabon, Hugo, Oklahoma, and John Tahsuda, General Counsel, National Indian Gaming Association, Washington, D.C., for Amici Curiae National Indian Gaming Association, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and Chickasaw Nation.
Before BRORBY, McKAY, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
The United States filed a civil complaint in the Northern District of Oklahoma seeking the forfeiture of "MegaMania" machines operated in Indian country. The government asserted the machines operating the game "MegaMania" are unlawful gambling devices operated in violation of the Johnson Act, 15 U.S.C. 1171 - 1178.1 A district judge subsequently issued a warrant to seize the MegaMania machines. The machines are owned by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma (the Tribes). The Tribes and Multimedia Gambling Devices, Inc. (Multimedia), the manufacturer of the machines, filed claims and answers seeking a declaratory judgment determining the machines are lawful under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, 25 U.S.C. 2701 - 2721, and not illegal gambling devices under the Johnson Act.2 The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Multimedia and the Tribes, ruling the MegaMania machines are utilized for a "Class II" game permitted by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and are not illegal gambling devices under the Johnson Act. The district court subsequently denied the government's motion to alter or amend the judgment. The government appeals the decision of the district court. We exercise jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. 1291 and affirm.
At the heart of this dispute is the nature of the game MegaMania. Thus, we begin our discussion with a description of this game, which the Tribes and Multimedia liken to bingo or a game similar to bingo. MegaMania is played on a machine called an electronic player station. These player stations are located on Indian lands in Oklahoma, California, and elsewhere. A person playing MegaMania begins the game by electronically selecting up to four cards with randomly generated numbers. The player must pay twenty-five cents per card to begin the game. A game will commence once at least twelve players nationwide purchase at least forty-eight cards. A bingo "blower" located in Indian country in Oklahoma selects three numbered balls, and a human operator transmits the numbers on the balls by computer to Multimedia's headquarters where they are sent through a computer network to each player station. The player then touches the corresponding space or spaces on the player's card appearing on the MegaMania station screen. To continue playing the game, a player must pay an additional twenty-five cents per card in exchange for the numbers on the next three balls. These numbers are transmitted in roughly ten second intervals. Consequently, the player must continue to pay twenty-five cents to one dollar every ten seconds to stay in the game.
With the purchase of these numbers, a MegaMania player simultaneously engages in two aspects of the game, namely "straight-line" bingo and "CornerMania." Straight-line bingo is won by the first player or simultaneous players to cover or "daub" five spaces in a straight line on the player's bingo card image displayed on the screen. Once one or more players cover five spaces in a row on a card, either horizontally, vertically or diagonally, the game terminates unless no player has won at CornerMania. The amount the straight-line winners take depends on a variety of factors: the number of cards played; the number of balls drawn; the amount of money carried over from prior games; and the number of simultaneous straight-line winners.
The object of the CornerMania portion of the game is to cover two, three or four corners of a card and win an interim monetary prize. CornerMania is played until the straight-line bingo is won. If the straight-line bingo ends with no CornerMania winner, additional balls, at three-ball increments, are drawn until at least one CornerMania winner is announced. The amount a player wins at CornerMania is based on a fixed formula that depends solely on the number of corners covered and the number of balls drawn at the time the corners are covered.
On average, Multimedia and the Tribes retain fifteen percent of the amount taken in by the machines and the winning players receive eighty-five percent. In every game of MegaMania, there is at least one straight-line bingo winner and one CornerMania winner.
Two pieces of legislation are relevant to this case--the Johnson Act and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Both pertain to gaming activities in Indian country. The Johnson Act makes it unlawful within Indian country to possess or use any "gambling device." 15 U.S.C. 1175(a). A "gambling device" is defined as any slot machine, 15 U.S.C. 1171(a)(1), and
any other machine or mechanical device (including but not limited to, roulette wheels and similar devices) designed and manufactured primarily for use in connection with gambling, and (A) which when operated may deliver, as the result of the application of an element of chance, any money or property, or (B) by the operation of which a person may become entitled to receive, as the result of the application of an element of chance, any money or property.
Following the Supreme Court's decision in California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, 480 U.S. 202 (1987) (Cabazon I), which authorized gaming on federally recognized Indian lands, Congress enacted the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (the Gaming Act), also known as IGRA, codified at 25 U.S.C. 2701 - 2721.3 The Gaming Act classifies Indian gaming into three different categories: Class I, Class II, and Class III. 25 U.S.C. 2703. Each of these categories is subject to different degrees of state and federal regulation. See Cabazon Band of Mission Indians v. National Indian Gaming Comm'n, 827 F.Supp. 26, 27 (D. D.C. 1993), cert. denied, 512 U.S. 1221 (1994) (Cabazon II). The Tribes possess exclusive jurisdiction to regulate Class I gaming, which includes social games and traditional forms of Indian gaming connected to tribal ceremonies. 25 U.S.C. 2703(6), 2710(a)(1). Class I gaming is not at issue here.
The Gaming Act defines Class II games to include "the game of chance commonly known as bingo (whether or not electronic, computer or other technologic aids are used in connection therewith) ... including (if played in the same location) pull-tabs, lotto, punch boards, tip jars, instant bingo, and other games similar to bingo ...." 25 U.S.C. 2703(7)(A) (emphasis added). Class II games are regulated by the National...
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