The Alabama-Coushatta tribe plans to hold a job fair soon for their new Class II casino, Naskila Entertainment near Livingston, Texas. On Tuesday April 19 Tribal members are invited for either of two sessions to be held at the Tribal Multi-Purpose Center (Gym). Tribal Members and the general community are welcome to attend on Wednesday, April 20th.

The Multi-Purpose Center is located at 333 State Park Rd 56. Tuesday’s job fair will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 pm and 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. with Wednesday’s running from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 pm and 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

The Job Fair will be facilitated by Naskila Management along with Tribal departmental staff. The open meetings will allow interested people to get face to face time and learn more about career opportunities. A variety of positions are available from managerial and technical to service and support. A flyer, also posted on the Entertainment Center’s Facebook page offers a phone number for those with questions.

Our phone calls Friday and Saturday went directly to voice mail and a Friday email has not been returned yet. We are monitoring social media and local news outlets for updated information in regard to an opening date, but expect the venue to open on or before May 1st.

The tribe has not offered Class II slot machines since 2002, since being forced by court decisions to close a lucrative operation that generated about $1 million per month for the tribe and ran less than a year. The only other tribal casino to operate in the state is the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino in Eagle Pass, which has been open since 1996. Texans, not in the “Deep East” also have a casino cruise ship available out of Aransas Pass – otherwise the state’s denizens are forced to travel out of state to “get their spin on” across the border at other tribal casinos like  the Chickasaw Nation’s WinStar World Casino and Resort in Oklahoma.

In October 2015 the National Indian Gaming Commission ruled that the tribe, along with the Tigua Tribes (aka Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo) in Texas, had been restored to federal recognition a year before the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed; affirming both tribes’ jurisdiction over their sovereign lands. On November 3, 2015 the tribe announced that they had received federal approval to resume electronic gaming.

The casino is located at 540 State Park Road 56, in Livingston, Texas and will offer 15,000 square feet of entertainment space with about 10,000 of that devoted to gaming on over 350 machines. A restaurant is also planned for the refurbished center.

The state’s Charitable Bingo operators have been losing money for the last several years with some being shut down by the state for not generating positive income. They are staunchly opposed to the state’s tribes self-determination on sovereign land on which the state has no jurisdiction to enforce its draconian gambling laws. The Charitable bingo operators were also heavily influential in getting the Texas Racing Commission to kill regulations allowing so-called Historical Racing machines. Statewide, the only legal gambling outlets are a state lottery, parimutuel wagering, and charity bingo.