Efforts to secure a congressional amendment to legislation limiting tribes’ abilities to set up off-reservation casinos could encounter tough opposition among influential members of the US Senate, experts warn.

A “fix” to a 2009 US Supreme Court ruling limiting the US Department of Interior’s ability to place land in trust for American Indian tribes was adopted Thursday by a US House subcommittee and included in an appropriations bill.

Senior officials in the Obama administration have indicated for the first time the urgency with which they are pursuing congressional action to remedy the implications of the recent Supreme Court decision that would limit the ability of US tribes to establish off-reservation casino facilities.

Overturning Bush-era rules on off-reservation casinos and ensuring fairness in tribal-state compact negotiations should take top priority in President Obama’s nascent tribal gaming policy, experts suggest.

The Obama Administration may be forced to bypass Congress and issue a “regulatory fix” to a controversial court decision that barred dozens of tribes from acquiring reservation land for casinos and other economic development projects, a top federal official says.

Influential members of a key US Senate committee have hinted that any congressional ‘fix’ to amend a recent Supreme Court decision could exclude redress for Indian gaming tribes looking to establish casinos away from the traditional reservations.

Rhode Island’s Narragansett Tribe may be facing an uphill legal battle in its attempts to gain approval to set up a federally recognized Indian reservation following a potentially landmark legal challenge launched by state officials. In a recent hearing, the US Supreme Court subjected the tribe’s land proposal to a round of sceptical questioning in a critical case being closely watched throughout Indian Country.

Rhode Island officials have fired the opening legal salvos in a landmark US Supreme Court case challenging a federal decision to allow a local Indian tribe to convert land holdings into sovereign territory for a casino. The challenge by Rhode Island state leaders has drawn support from other US states and may have far-reaching implications for the Indian gaming sector.

A small Long Island tribe is close to winning key federal recognition, a move that could open up the possibility of a major Indian casino on the outskirts of New York City.

The recent US Supreme Court decision barring many tribes from setting up off-reservation casinos has sparked outrage across a wide swath of Indian Country. But beyond the angry denunciations, there is also concern among some tribal leaders that a push for a legislative fix in Washington, D.C., if not well thought through, could backfire.