Tribe’s lawsuit challenges Arizona law on gambling expansion

PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona tribe that didn’t sign a revised gambling compact with the state earlier this year has filed a lawsuit alleging that a new state law is unconstitutional and left some rural tribes in the cold by excluding them from negotiations hamming out the legislation. The suit filed by the Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe on Thursday asks the court to prevent the Department of Gaming from issuing sportsbook licenses and allowing sports betting. The lawsuit said the state presented the tribe with an amended compact “as a non-negotiable, ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ proposition.” The lawmaker who sponsored the gambling legislation defended it as fair and equitable.