A leadership vacancy at the National Indian Gaming Commission has delayed key approvals for tribal casinos and narrowed the agency’s enforcement reach, with a Harrah’s-branded project in Oklahoma among the cases already stuck in limbo.
The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma opened its new Harrah’s-branded casino in Chandler in April. On opening day, customers packed the gambling floor and cars spilled out of the parking lot, and chairman Jacob Keyes said the crowd was so large that the tribe could not let everyone in.
But the tribe’s plan for Harrah’s parent company to take over day-to-day management has stalled because the commission has no chairperson to certify the agreement. According to the Los Angeles Times, the tribe’s small government staff is left managing a 175,000-square-foot casino while also balancing budgets and social programs.
Under federal law, the chair holds powers that include enforcement actions, approval of new tribal gambling laws and certification of management agreements. The commission’s last enforcement action was issued on Jan. 12, the same day acting chair Sharon Avery’s term expired.
In a bulletin, the agency said Avery resumed as associate commissioner on Jan. 13 and that the full range of the chair’s authorities cannot be delegated. NIGC later announced that Vice Chair Jeannie Hovland departed effective immediately on April 6 after serving since 2021.
The leadership gap spans two administrations. The Times said the last Senate-confirmed chair stepped down in January and that President Donald Trump has not nominated anyone to fill the vacancy, while a White House spokesperson called the commission a valued board but did not say when a nomination would come.
The commission is meant to be a three-person body under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, with the chair appointed by the President and two associate members appointed by the Secretary of the Interior. In April, a Federal Register notice proposed William Billy Henry Kirkland III, the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, for one of those associate seats for a three-year term.
Tribal gambling generated a record $46 billion in 2025, nearly triple Nevada’s annual casino revenue. Former NIGC chair Jonodev Chaudhuri said the commission is operating “with one arm tied behind its back,” and industry analyst Steven Light said markets function best when there is stability and certainty around rules. The problem has also landed as tribes fight online prediction markets, with at least eight tribes suing platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket and James Siva saying the vacancy and the prediction-market fight were happening “in conjunction with each other.”
