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Minnesota’s high court has cleared the way for Running Aces to add more “dealer-assist” electronic table games, after a split outcome left an earlier ruling intact and ended a legal challenge from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community.
In a decision filed January 21, 2026, the Minnesota Supreme Court agreed that the tribe had the right to bring the case. The justices said the tribe’s gaming compact and Minnesota law give it a concrete interest in whether non-tribal venues expand into machine-like gambling.
But the court did not reach a clear majority on whether the Minnesota Racing Commission acted lawfully when it approved Running Aces’ updated floor plan. The justices split evenly on the merits, so the court left the Court of Appeals decision standing. That result keeps the Racing Commission’s approval in place.
What Running Aces can add
The dispute traces back to a 2023 approval that lets Running Aces Casino, Hotel & Racetrack add one dealer table and 11 player stations that use electronic table game tech. A live dealer handles physical cards at the table. Cameras and card-recognition tech send the action to video touchscreens at the player stations, where patrons place bets.
Running Aces told regulators the change adds a single dealer table while expanding the number of seats available through the linked stations. The plan also lands in the middle of Minnesota’s long-running line-drawing: racetracks can run card clubs, but state law reserves “video games of chance” and other gambling devices to tribal operators with compacts.
Tribes say the tech looks like a gambling device, while Running Aces says it’s still just a card table
The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community argued that Running Aces’ new setup goes beyond a traditional card club. While a live dealer remains involved, the use of electronic player stations, screens, and automated betting functions looks, in the tribe’s view, too close to the kinds of gambling machines that state law reserves exclusively for tribal casinos.
The tribe also raised a second issue: numbers. It said the revised floor plan effectively increases the size of the card club beyond Minnesota’s 80-table limit, even if the casino labels the additions as player terminals rather than full tables.
Running Aces and the Minnesota Racing Commission disagreed. They argued the technology does not qualify as a prohibited gambling device under state law and that the setup still counts as a single dealer table with multiple seats. They also claimed the tribe should not be allowed to sue at all, saying it had not shown direct harm from the approval.
However, the Supreme Court rejected that last argument. The justices said the tribe does have a legally protected interest because its gaming compact gives it exclusive rights to certain forms of gambling. When a state agency approves new gaming activity that could weaken those rights, the tribe has standing to challenge it, even before financial harm is proven.
Source: Justia
