Do Indians in America’s Southwest have the exclusive right to deal poker?

And, more importantly, the exclusive right to earn the wampum that comes with the rake?

Like most other disputes in the USA over money, this one will be decided by the courts.

Attorneys for the Pascua Yaquis, an Indian tribe in the State of Arizona, have filed a lawsuit against the owners of a new poker room in Tucson, Arizona, USA.

According to media reports, the suit seeks the closure of the poker room, called Club Royale, alleging it engages in illegal gambling.

Luis Ochoa, one of the tribe’s attorneys, claims Arizona has given Indian tribes in the state the exclusive right to open and operate poker rooms, media reports said.

As part of the lawsuit, the Pascua Yaquis are seeking a temporary restraining order against Club Royale and its owners, in order to shut the club down, media reports said.

In addition to naming the club’s owners–Donna Rogers and Johnny Ray Rogers–as defendants, the suit also names as a defendant Harold S. Lee, the founder of the International Card and Game Players Association of Tombstone, Arizona, USA, with which Club Royale and two other non-Indian poker rooms in the state are affiliated, media reports said.

(E-mail Tom Somach at [email protected].)