Cite as: 527 U. S. 173 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
and we invalidated the restriction based on the "overall irrationality of the Government's regulatory scheme." Id., at 488. As in this case, there was "little chance" that the speech restriction could have directly and materially advanced its aim, "while other provisions of the same Act directly undermine[d] and counteract[ed] its effects." Id., at 489. Coupled with the availability of other regulatory options which could advance the asserted interests "in a manner less intrusive to [petitioners'] First Amendment rights," we found that the Government could not satisfy the Central Hudson test. Id., at 490-491.
Given the special federal interest in protecting the welfare of Native Americans, see California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, 480 U. S. 202, 216-217 (1987), we recognize that there may be valid reasons for imposing commercial regulations on non-Indian businesses that differ from those imposed on tribal enterprises. It does not follow, however, that those differences also justify abridging non-Indians' freedom of speech more severely than the freedom of their tribal competitors. For the power to prohibit or to regulate particular conduct does not necessarily include the power to prohibit or regulate speech about that conduct. 44 Liquor-mart, 517 U. S., at 509-511 (opinion of Stevens, J.); see id., at 531-532 (O'Connor, J., concurring in judgment); Rubin, 514 U. S., at 483, n. 2. It is well settled that the First Amendment mandates closer scrutiny of government restrictions on speech than of its regulation of commerce alone. Fox, 492 U. S., at 480. And to the extent that the purpose and operation of federal law distinguishes among information about tribal, governmental, and private casinos based on the identity of their owners or operators, the Government presents no sound reason why such lines bear any meaningful relationship to the particular interest asserted: minimizing casino gambling and its social costs by way of a (partial) broadcast ban. Discovery Network, 507 U. S., at 424, 428. Even under the degree of scrutiny that we have
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