Oklahoma Tribes Urge Interior to Reject Gambling Compacts

The renewal of tribal gambling compacts in Oklahoma has formed a chasm between Governor and tribes so wide and deep that it now seems only courts will be able to close it or at least narrow it.

And it will certainly take quite a while before all involved parties are content with what has been offered in relation to how the issue could be solved.

The divide started to form last summer when Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt told tribes that their compacts with the state would expire on December 31, 2019 and that new terms had to be negotiated.

Tribal chiefs informed the Governor that they were open to negotiate new compacts with him, but the old ones automatically renewed on January 1. A group of tribes filed a federal lawsuit against Oklahoma’s top official, seeking a declaratory judgment that their old 15-year compacts with state indeed renewed automatically for another 15 years starting January 1.

Somewhere along the way (in April, to be more precise), Gov. Stitt announced that he had reached a deal with two tribes – the Otoe-Missouria Tribe and the Comanche Nation. That agreement further pitted ten other tribes against the official, while also creating discord between the two tribes that had agreed to Gov. Stitt’s terms and the ones that had not.

That latter group of tribes is now urging the US Department of the Interior to reject the gambling compacts negotiated with the Otoe-Missouria Tribe and the Comanche Nation.

New Compacts Show “Profound Disrespect for Tribes and Tribal Sovereignty”

It is now up to the Department of the Interior to determine whether the gambling compacts should take effect. The federal agency has until June 8 to OK them, reject them, or let them take effect without action.

Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter in an official opinion from last week urged Interior to reject the gambling compacts with the two tribes, arguing that some of their provisions were not permitted by state law.

Under said provisions, the two tribes would be allowed to conduct sports betting and betting on eSports contests as well as to offer house banked card and table games. According to Attorney General Hunter, those types of games are and will remain criminal under state law.

A number of tribes have joined the Attorney General and have sent their own letters to the Department of the Interior, asking it to prevent the gambling compacts from taking effect.

Gov. Stitt and the Comanche and Otoe-Missouria Tribes argue that federal law preempts state law on tribal gambling issues so betting on sporting events would be permitted on the territory of Oklahoma.

It should also be noted that under the old compacts, tribes were required to pay between 4% and 6% on their revenues from Class III slot machines and up to 10% on table game revenues to the state in exchange for the exclusivity over casino gambling.

Gov. Stitt now wants gambling venues to pay between 20% and 25% in exclusivity fees, which can effectively make Oklahoma one of the most expensive places in the US to conduct casino activities.

Governor Pitting Tribes Against Each Other

Under the terms of the compacts now awaiting Interior’s approval, the two tribes will be able to build three new casinos each. The Otoe-Missouria Tribe would be allowed to develop venues in Logan, Noble, and Payne Counties, while the Comanche Nation would be able to build properties in Cleveland, Grady, and Love Counties.

The point of contention lies in the fact that all or at least portions of the six counties lie outside the set jurisdictions of the two tribes and within the jurisdictions of other tribes.

Stephen Greetham, Senior Counsel for the Chickasaw Nation, said in a detailed analysis of the compacts that “off-reservation trust acquisitions are always controversial, but these provisions seem particularly designed to provoke discord and to disrupt Oklahoma Indian country.”

Mr. Greetham went on that if, for example, the Comanche Nation is granted approval to build a casino in Love County in the middle of the Chickasaw Nation’s jurisdiction that would demonstrate “a profound disrespect for Tribes and Tribal sovereignty, on the part of both Governor Stitt and, unfortunately, the Comanche Nation.”

John L. Berrey, Chairman of the Quapaw Nation Business Committee, wrote in a letter to Interior officials that “Gov. Stitt’s strategy is transparent – he wants to bully Oklahoma tribes until we pay him to stop.”

The letter went on that throughout the course of his ruse, Gov. Stitt has “attempted to divide Oklahoma’s tribal nations, which would make it easier for him to get an agreement he wants.”

Terri Parton, President of Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, wrote in a separate letter that there have been numerous previous instances where Interior has rejected compact language that authorized casinos on land not within a tribe’s existing jurisdiction.

The letter noted that “likewise, the Comanche and Otoe proposed compacts should be disapproved because of the illusory nature of the Governor’s purported prospective off-reservation gaming acquisition concurrence.”

The bitterness between the tribes went so far as to prompt the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association (OIGA) to suspend the Comanche and Otoe-Missouria Tribes’ membership.

OIGA Chairman Matthew Morgan commented that Oklahoma and its tribes “deserve better than the carelessness Governor Stitt has brought to the table.”

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