On Monday, July 6, tribal leaders filed a federal lawsuit against the lottery in the US District Court for the District of Kansas.
Gaming Law and Sovereign Rights, Allegedly Violated
The lawsuit says that the state is allegedly going against both federal gaming regulations and the Nation’s sovereign rights by unlawfully permitting the sale of lottery tickets and the presence of lottery machines at about two dozen locations within the Nation’s reservation boundaries without the approval of the Nation.
The latter has exclusive authority to regulate gaming activities on its land, and, says the complaint, never granted permission for the Kansas Lottery to sell tickets or operate lottery machines within the reservation.
The complaint is looking to put an end to what they describe as ongoing violations of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, the Nation’s gaming ordinance, and its sovereign authority over gaming conducted on reservation land.
Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Tribal Council Chairman Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick reiterated the tribe’s lengthy relationship with Kansas through a series of important partnerships, but was blunt about emphasizing that the state must also respect and comply with the treaties that recognize the Nation’s sovereignty and territorial boundaries.
Retaining Sole Property
Tribal officials argue that both federal law and the Nation’s own gaming ordinance require the tribe to retain the sole proprietary interest in all Class III gaming conducted on reservation land.
The lawsuit also claims the state’s actions violate longstanding principles of tribal self-governance that existed before the passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
According to the Nation, tribal leaders notified Kansas Lottery Executive Director Stephen Durrell through multiple written notices during May and June 2026.
Attorneys representing the Nation also met with representatives from the Kansas Attorney General’s Office and the Kansas Lottery in an effort to resolve the dispute, but all discussions failed to produce any action to halt lottery sales.
Finally, the lawsuit wants the federal court to declare that the approximately 900-square-mile reservation established under an 1846 treaty has never been diminished or disestablished and continues to qualify as Indian land under federal law.
The reservation includes land in Jackson, Pottawatomie, Shawnee, and Wabaunsee counties. Tribal officials say the treaty promised the land would remain the Nation’s permanent home in exchange for the cession of its ancestral territory elsewhere in the Midwest.