Colorado River Indian Tribes Announce Feb. 25 Hearing on 2026 Gaming Code

The Colorado River Indian Tribes published a notice in the CRIT Manataba Messenger on Feb. 11, 2026 announcing a public hearing scheduled for Feb. 25, 2026 to consider the "2026 Amended and Restated Gaming Code." The notice appears under the title "Notice of Public Hearing on the Proposed Colorado River Indian Tribes 2026 Amended and Restated Gaming Code- February 25" on the tribe’s official Manataba Messenger page.

The Manataba Messenger posting directs readers to the proposed text, stating, "Follow the link below for the propsed amended code" and providing a link label shown as "2026 Amended and Restated Gaming Code_Public Hearing." The same Manataba Messenger page lists related items alongside the notice, including "Metropolitan Water District Job Openings," a "Notice from CRIT Enrollment Dept." with the instruction "Please follow the link for complete announcement. Ltrtomembership," and "Services For Tennille Hogan Wagner."

Excerpts supplied to this report do not include a start time, physical venue, remote access instructions, or deadlines for written comments for the Feb. 25 hearing. The posted link label and the "Follow the link below for the propsed amended code" line indicate the full proposed code and any participation instructions are available through the Manataba Messenger link; however, the supplied excerpts lack the hearing time, location, and explicit comment submission procedures.

The notice and its placement in the Manataba Messenger follow a pattern of CRIT using tribal publications and archival feeds for formal announcements. Historic items on the Crit-nsn archive show prior governance and land notices dating back decades, including a June 19, 2008 entry noting the U.S. Department of Justice "has once again confirmed the Federal Government's long-standing position that the Colorado River Indian Tribes' reservation boundaries spread into California" and an April 11, 2005 item flagging efforts to return 16,000-acre La Paz Lands to CRIT. The Crit-nsn feed also preserves a April 20, 2005 notice that "CRIT has been forced to close significant portions of the reservation because of fire danger" while explicitly stating access to Blue Water Resort & Casino was not affected.

For broader policy context, CRIT has made formal federal filings on Colorado River governance. In CRIT's Sept. 1, 2022 submission to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the tribe wrote that "The Tribes should be included in all substantive meetings to develop the next set of operational guidelines. The CRIT do not want to be informed of the decisions made or agreements reached with the Basin States. It is critical that we be in the meetings and provide our voices to shape those decisions and agreements." The Sept. 1, 2022 comments also state that "Viewing CRIT as a water user or stakeholder, the volume of our water right is very significant in the Lower Basin and our annual water use is similar to that of Southern Nevada Water Authority" and add, "We cannot participate in decision making if we are not included. Send us, and the other tribes in the basin, the same meeting notices that you send other water users and the states."

The Feb. 25 hearing date stands as the next formal opportunity for public consideration of the proposed gaming code; the Manataba Messenger posting uses the link label "2026 Amended and Restated Gaming Code_Public Hearing" for the proposal. Community members and interested parties should consult the CRIT Manataba Messenger notice for the full proposed code and for any hearing logistics and comment procedures that were not included in the material reviewed for this report.