This week's headlines have turned up a grab bag of litigation related to Indian gaming.  Here's a sample, ranging from intratribal disputes over gaming revenue to local residents challenging the status of tribal lands to cheating in tribal casinos:

Tribal court in Oklahoma: A judge for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation tribal court ruled last week that the tribe's central government could retain control of the tribe's six casinos.  The Muscogee Nation is a confederacy of tribal nations, not unlike the Great Sioux Nation in our part of the country.  The distinct tribal communities making up the Muscogee Nation had operated six casinos.  Each casino was managed by one of the communities, with revenue split between the community and the tribe's central government.  Last year, though, the tribe's chief took control of revenue from the communities' casinos and sought permanent control through a suit in tribal court.  The impetus was concerns over how revenue was being used by the individual communities, including allegations that it funded trips to Vegas and Dollywood.  The court sided with the central government, hinting strongly that it was better that the tribe's central government cleaned house than waiting for the NIGC to find violations.  Read more in the Tulsa World.

Federal court in California: Here's a headline that could run any day in any California paper in the last decade or more: "Local Residents Upset Over Trial Casino."  This time, residents in West Contra Costa are upset about the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians' Casino San Pablo, near San Francisco.  A citizens' group, "Neighbors of Casino San Pablo," have filed a suit in federal court to shut down the casino amid complaints about traffic, light pollution, and crime.  The suit actually goes quite a bit further, challenging the tribal status of the Lytton Band's land on a basis that would apply to dozens of rancherias throughout the state.  Nothing like stripping tribes of land to solve traffic jams.  Read more in the Mercury News.

And more from federal court in California: A cheat -- that is, a card cheat -- was sentenced to 70 months in the federal pen and was ordered to pay $2.7 million in forfeiture and $5.7 million in restitution.  The defendant, Phuong Quoc Truong, was part of a card-cheating ring that bribed dealers and others to use unshuffled cards and used wires and cell phones to track the order of the cards during play.  The ring targeted some 10 tribal casinos in the San Diego area.  The conspiracy, known as the "Tran Organization," is alleged to have started in 2002, and involves more than 35 defendants.  Read more in the Desert Sun.