Indian Gaming Today

Texas-Size Those Casinos!

2009-04-09T08:17:00.000-07:00

The prospects for widespread casino-style gaming in Texas, with massive Vegas-style resort casinos, drew huge crowds to a state House hearing yesterday. Proposals are now on the table to transform the landscape by allowing racinos (casinos at horse and dog race tracks), destination resorts, and on American Indian lands.

How big might this be? When Sheldon Adelson, chair and CEO of Las Vegas Sands (the legend whose company who brought the Venetian and Palazzo to Vegas and Macao), shows up to testify, you’re talking big: Texas-size, that is.

Members of the Tigua Tribe of El Paso and the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Livingston also testified before the Texas House about the rationale for reopening the tribes’ casinos, which were closed by federal authorities in 2002 after the state sued. The tribes have been in casino limbo ever since.

Stay tuned on this one – a potentially game-changing move in Texas that could tap into one of the few remaining untapped markets – and one which undoubtedly will raise the ire of anti-gambling activists in the Bible Belt.

With All Deliberate Speed: Hearing Held on Deputy Interior Secretary Nominee

2009-03-16T14:26:00.000-07:00

Despite high expectations, things have slowed down a little at the Interior Department. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has been the only confirmed nominee, and not much is happening on Indian affairs. However, former Clinton Administration Deputy Interior Secretary David J. Hayes is set to assume the same position under President Obama.

Hayes, an attorney, has been a partner at the Washington office of Latham & Watkins, well known as one of the leading environmental, energy, and natural resource law firms in the world. At Latham & Watkins, Hayes’ practice focused on counseling, litigation, and transactions, and he was, in effect, a lobbyist.

With a promised focus on tribal economic development, Hayes told the Senate Entergy and Natural Resources Committee that he is looking forward to “working with Native American communities,” which “was one of the most rewarding aspects of the job” when he worked at Interior in the Clinton era.

Although after leaving office last time around, Hayes was accused of violating anti-“revolving door” policies designed to prevent too much cozying up between lobbyists and government, a bipartisan investigation did not evidence that to be the case. Still, the relationship did not sit too well with Senator John McCain. Hayes did not represent any tribal clients during his time at Latham and Watkins.

The Committee will vote on Wednesday.

For more, see here, and see the Committee hearing here.

A “Bolt from the Blue” from the Supreme Court

2009-02-26T18:13:00.000-08:00

The U.S. Supreme Court has laid down the law once again for Indian Country, holding that the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (IRA) does not authorize the Secretary of the Interior to take land into trust for tribes that were not under federal jurisdiction as of the date the IRA was enacted. The decision has major implications, as is discussed in the Boston Globe, in which Steve is quoted.

The 6-3 decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, No. 07-526 (Feb. 24, 2009) throws into doubt previous decisions by the Secretary to take land into trust for recently recognized tribes, including the Narragansetts in Rhode Island (who were the subject of the Court decision) and the Mashpee Wampanoag in Massachusetts (who have been hoping to build a $1 billion casino in Middleborough).

Carcieri concerned the Narragansetts’ argument that 31 acres of land it owns in Charleston, Rhode Island, should be placed in trust. Following an administrative decision that came down on the side of the Secretary, the state sued. Both a federal district court and the First Circuit found in favor of the tribe, but the Supreme Court reversed.

The Court’s analysis for the most part turned on its reading of the IRA’s statutory language, and the related application of basic principles of administrative law. The IRA authorizes the Secretary to take land into trust for the benefit of a “recognized Indian Tribe now under Federal jurisdiction.” The question of whether “now” means in 1934, or at the time the Secretary acts, had been held to be ambiguous enough by a lower court to merit deference to the Secretary under the Chevron doctrine (which requires a court to defer to an agency interpretation under such circumstances)—as had been the case for the last 75 years.

However, writing for the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas found the meaning of “now” to be unambiguously understood to be at “the present time; at this moment; at the time of speaking.” Hence the Secretary did not have authority to take land into trust after the date of the IRA’s enactment in 1934.

While the decision is momentous in its potential impact on a number of tribes, Congress could take up the question of what to do about the important question of how the federal government can fulfill its trust responsibility to tribes.

Here’s the Supreme Court’s opinion.

First Lady Visits Interior Department

2009-02-17T14:32:00.000-08:00

Last week, First Lady Michelle Obama packed the house at the Interior Department during her barnstorming tour of federal agencies. Of special note was Mrs. Obama’s comments on Interior’s—and the federal government’s—relationship to Indian Country.

"For those of you focused on meeting the federal government's obligations to the Native Americans, understand that you have a wonderful partner in the White House right now," she said.

Mrs. Obama went on to reference her husband’s commitment to honor the “unique government-to-government” relationship shared by tribes and the federal government.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act contemplated intergovernmental relations on a level playing field. It codified a government-to-government relationship and, before the U.S. Supreme Court gutted it in 1996, even provided a mechanism through which tribes and states could enforce that relationship in federal court.

Whether or not Mrs. Obama is familiar with Indian gaming, her words and her presence carried a special message about the significance of tribal sovereignty as well as the trust relationship between the federal government and tribes.

See more here, and here's the video of Mrs. Obama.

More on the Recession's Effects on Local Tribal Casinos

2009-02-10T13:37:00.000-08:00

We said in an earlier blog post that "local" tribal casinos may take a smaller hit than large casino resorts in the current economic climate. And while it appears that spending is down less for local casinos than for tourist-destination casinos, tribes are still worried.

As we've explained in detail in our book, "Indian Gaming and Tribal Sovereignty: The Casino Compromise," tribal gaming operations, just like tribes, vary in size and economic vitality. Typically, a "local" tribal casino in the midwest is operated by a tribe with thousands, rather than dozens, of tribal members, many of whom face socioeconomic adversity -- high unemployment rates and high levels of poverty. Even modest casino revenues allow the tribal government to create jobs, provide much-needed services, and improve the quality of life for reservation residents.

A downturn in casino spending can have serious effects on communities already struggling with unemployment and poverty. While many of us are dismayed with national unemployment rates that may approach double digits, tribes in the midwest have been working to reduce reservation unemployment to below 50%.

And that's why we've suggested that non-tribal local governments and states should care about what happens to Indian gaming in this economic climate. For many tribes, gaming isn't about profits or per capita payments -- it's about jobs, for Indians and non-Indians alike, and reducing the effects of severe poverty.

Read more about local casinos in Minnesota in the Duluth News Tribune at "Local casinos feeling recession's squeeze."

A Split in a Landmark Tribal-Corporate Partnership?

2009-02-03T15:01:00.000-08:00

We've given a number of presentations in the last several months on economic trends in Indian gaming. One trend that we discuss is the increase in tribal-corporate partnerships -- tribes partnering with Marriott, Harrahs, Radisson, and other hotel, resort, casino, entertainment, and restaurant companies. One of the biggest examples is the new MGM Grand at Foxwoods. But a Connecticut media outlet is reporting on a possible split between the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe and MGM Grand.

Why the rumor of a split? According to the article, a new Foxwoods brochure depicts the MGM Grand tower without "MGM Grand" on it:

In a graphic on the brochure's cover, Foxwoods Resort Casino and the adjacent MGM Grand tower, both owned by the Mashantuckets, rise up out of the woods. Missing from the top of the tower's face is the distinctive “MGM GRAND” lettering and the MGM lion's head logo installed there in December 2007.

The article also reports that both the tribe and MGM Grand deny the rumored split.

Read more here: At Foxwoods MGM Grand, a sign of changes ahead?

The New Gambling Behavior Lab at UND

2009-01-26T14:30:00.000-08:00

We mentioned in an earlier post that we had a photo opportunity at the University of North Dakota's new Gambling Behavior Lab, housed in the Northern Plains Center for Behavioral Research. Our friend and collaborator, psychology professor Jeff Weatherly, is the lab's driving force.

Read more about the Gambling Behavior Lab.

Will All Tribal Gaming Be Hit Hard by the Recession?

2009-01-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

As we've discussed in prior posts, the economic downturn has caught up with the legalized gambling industry as consumers are spending less on things like entertainment.

And the Indian gaming industry has not been immune, as some tribal casinos have laid off workers or cut back on hours.

But will more modest tribal gaming operations feel the same consumer "pull back" as the large, Las Vegas-style casino resorts?

We predict that more "local" tribal casinos -- those that draw their relatively modest customer bases from nearby mid-size communities -- may see less of a drop in patronage than the bigger casinos that rely more on out-of-state tourists.

Why? Well, it's one thing to commit to a weekend trip to Foxwoods, where a customer might budget for $1000 or more in gambling money, plus hotel and meals. It's something else to decide not to give up your weekly evening of gambling at a more modest tribal casino, followed by an inexpensive dinner at the buffet.

Do you agree? Let us know!

Hometown News Highlight

2009-01-20T13:55:00.000-08:00

Our hometown newspaper, the Grand Forks Herald, featured us on the front page this past Sunday. In a fairly wide-ranging piece, we opine about the future of Indian gaming in tough economic times.

And we're pictured in the new Gambling Behavior Lab at the University of North Dakota's Northern Plains Center for Behavioral Research. What a photo!

Read more here: HIGH-ROLLING ACADEMICS: UND professors study Indian gaming

More on Indian gaming and the Economy

2009-01-08T13:54:00.000-08:00

Kathryn's quoted in this article about the recession's impacts on tribal gaming in Mississippi, where the Mississippi Band of Choctaw announced that its Pearl River Resort would lay off 570 workers and its Golden Moon Hotel and Casino would operate only on weekends.

While gross revenues for Indian gaming operations across the U.S. in the aggregate have stayed relatively flat in the last year, the economic downturn is now hitting specific areas with greater force. Here, it is likely that the local economy couldn’t sustain the Golden Moon and the Silver Star, with the former cannibalizing the latter’s profits.

Some unsolicited advice: tribes would do well to consider as many creative ways as possible to keep casino employees on the payroll, for instance through flextime, reduced benefits, or even temporary layoffs. Not just the reality, but the image of layoffs is going to provide some serious negative PR in the regions in which these layoffs occur (just take a look at some of the reader reactions to the Clarion-Ledger story). And we all know that preserving or enhancing the positive image of tribal casinos constitutes vital political capital for tribes.

Read more in the Jackson Clarion-Ledger at 570 Jobs Gone at Choctaw Resort

Indian Gaming and the Recession

2009-01-06T14:40:00.000-08:00

On December 1, the National Bureau for Economic Research announced what many of us already knew: the U.S. economy has been in a recession for the last year.

Nearly every industry, including Indian gaming, is feeling the effects of the recession. Even the "big players," like the highly profitable Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, owned by the Mashantucket Pequots, announced in September that it was laying off 700 workers. This year, the tribe has cut 900 casino jobs and 200 tribal government jobs. The tribe reportedly has offered buyouts to all of its tribal employees, with the exception of the seven-member tribal council.

Just recently, the Seneca Indian Nation announced 210 layoffs at its three casinos in western New York state. The Senecas also will freeze some employee salaries and cut others'.

It seems like similar stories are coming fast and furious. Read more on the recession and the gaming industry:

Mohegan Sun Profits Lower, Job Cuts at Foxwoods, Hartford Courant

Gambler's Blues, Salt Lake Tribune

Chancy Times for Casino Companies, Business Week

Indian Gaming and the Economy

2008-12-30T13:55:00.000-08:00

Economist Alan Meister, author of the Indian Gaming Industry Report, says that Indian gaming growth has slowed in recent years.

Because of the current recession, there is short-term uncertainty at least through 2009, he predicts. Long-term uncertainty, says Meister, is caused less by the economic climate and more by the legal and political climates. Non-market factors, such as legal challenges, or proposed or new regulations and statutes, can have the effect of slowing the industry's growth. Additionally, points out Meister, increased competition from the expansion of tribal gaming or other legalized gaming could slow market growth or even saturate the market. (We've been working with Alan on a forthcoming article titled, "Indian Gaming and Beyond: Tribal Economic Development and Diversification.")

Find information on the Indian Gaming Industry Report here. We'll again be posting on the impacts of the recession on tribal gaming shortly.

Ken Salazar Tapped to Head Interior Department

2008-12-18T14:58:00.000-08:00

President-elect Obama has tapped Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO) to head the Department of the Interior. Salazar is former director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and state attorney general. A first-term senator, he is a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Most of the attention given to the nomination will focus on Salazar’s moderate record on environmental, lands, and resources issues, which seems destined to please some and displease others. Virtually all commentators agree that Salazar is a reasonable and reasoned lawmaker, one who will be able to redeem Interior’s wild and wooly reputation as a lobbyists’ playground.

President-elect Obama sent an important signal, however, in introducing Salazar. In contrast to President Bush and his two nominees to head Interior (Gale Norton in 2000 and Dirk Kempthorne in 2006), both Obama and Salazar explicitly raised the subject of Indian Country.

This is significant because of the key role Interior plays in the federal government’s interactions with reservations and American Indian people. After all, the Interior Department oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians. Too, the Office of Indian Gaming Management is responsible for implementing gaming-related policy assigned to the BIA through IGRA and other federal laws.

Salazar has little experience working with tribes or on issues related to Indian Country. In accepting the nomination, however, he did state that he looks forward to addressing “challenges” facing American Indian communities.

Obama sent an additional, critically important signal in discussing how the federal government should approach tribes. “We need more than just a government-to-government relationship; we need a nation-to-nation relationship,” he said.

This tracks with Obama’s campaign-trail pronouncements affirming tribal sovereignty. If taken literally, it goes further than prior presidential statements recognizing a government-to-government relationship. Nations are cultural and social communities; Obama’s statement seems to recognize the specificity of tribal cultural and social identity.

Still to come are Obama’s choices for a new White House liaison on Indian Affairs (so new that it’s never been done before), a new Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, a new Special Trustee for American Indians, and so on. These choices may extend to new members of the National Indian Gaming Commission, as well.

For right now, Ken Salazar is the cabinet appointee to watch.

The Obama Transition Team’s special designee on Indian affairs, Keith Harper, along with Native American Rights Fund Executive Director John Echohawk, will continue to advise Obama and now, Salazar, on positions of importance to Indian Country. We’ll keep you posted.

For more on Salazar's nomination, see the New York Times' coverage or click here.

A Corrupt North Dakota?!? From the "What Planet Are We On, Anyway?" Files

2008-12-15T14:49:00.000-08:00

In the immediate aftermath of the stunning revelations about Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, USA Today published the results of an analysis that puts little old North Dakota at the top of its list of the "most corrupt" states in the U.S. North Dakota had the highest number of federal convictions for public corruption when measured on a per capita basis. With only 635,000 people, 53 convictions in the past decade resulted in a rate of 8.3 convictions per 100,000 people. So, states with much greater numbers of convictions but also with larger populations came out with lower rates than North Dakota -- like Illinois, with 503 convictions, Pennsylvania, with 555 convictions, or Florida, with 824 convictions.

North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem blasted the USA Today analysis, calling it "patently ridiculous." Stenehjem complained that the analysis included federal prosecutions of local and tribal officials. The last public corruption conviction of a state official was in 1954. And here is where gaming comes in.

In 1950, Elmo Christianson, a young attorney from Cavalier, was elected Attorney General. One of North Dakota's "golden boys," Christianson had served in WWII. Christianson had trouble funding his campaign, and sought some creative financing from "out of state" sources. Shortly before the election, he fell in with Herman Paster, who distributed slot machines in Minnesota, and Paster's attorney, Allan Nilva. The three of them agreed to let Paster bring slot machines to North Dakota, where Christianson, as Attorney General, would protect the illegal machines from being shut down by the state. Unfortunately for the three, their conspiracy continued into the following year, after the federal Johnson Act took effect on January 2, 1951, thus triggering a federal investigation and prosecution for interstate transportation of illegal gambling devices. Nilva was acquitted, and after a mistrial, Christianson and Paster were both convicted in March 1954 of conspiracy to violate the Johnson Act.

Read the USA Today article.

Read the Eighth Circuit case affirming Christianson's and Paster's convictions, and detailing the sordid and fascinating conspiracy.

Who’s the Key to the Transition for Indian Country?

2008-12-11T14:28:00.000-08:00

Keith Harper, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is a Lead on Barack Obama’s Interior Department Review Team. This means he is in the process of shaping what the incoming administration’s Interior Department will look like in terms of personnel as well as ideological and political posture.

Harper is a partner and chairs the Native American Practice Group at a major D.C. law firm. He has been lead attorney on the never-ending Cobell trust land litigation, and was head of the D.C. office of the Native American Rights Fund (NARF). Before becoming a Review Team Lead, Harper advised Obama on Indian affairs throughout the campaign.

Those watching the transition expect an Interior Department whose posture toward federal Indian programs and federal Indian policy will change dramatically from that seen throughout Bush years. One might assume that American Indians will be more visible within the Department and in the Office of Indian Gaming Management, while the Department’s stance on key issues related to tribal gaming will change, as well. For instance, it is likely that the 2005 letter that changed the BIA’s policy on approving compacts for prospective gaming sites on land not yet held in trust will be up for review.

Expect more efforts to engage in government-to-government consultation with tribes, as well.

For now, there is little doubt that the man to watch is Harper.

More here and here.

A (Rare) Informed Editorial on Indian Gaming

2008-12-01T13:22:00.000-08:00

An editorial in Saturday’s St. Petersburg Times offers a well-informed perspective on the current stand-off in Florida between the Seminole Tribe and state officials.

After the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the governor exceeded his authority in negotiating (at long last) a compact with the Seminoles, the state has been stymied by how to enforce the court's decision. The governor negotiated table games with the tribe, and the court ruled that the games were beyond the governor's power to authorize.

The key to the stand-off is the revenue-sharing provision in the compact: if all the tribe may operate is slot machines (which are legal in a few Florida counties), then there likely is not sufficient "give" by the state to justify the revenue sharing -- a fact that the editorial recognizes, and brings to readers' attention.

For more background on the situation in Florida, see our earlier posts, or read more on today's topic here.

More on the New Navajo Fire Rock Casino

2008-11-24T13:36:00.000-08:00

Hundreds of people had to wait to get in to the Navajo Nation's newly opened Fire Rock Casino, near Gallup, NM. More than 4000 people showed up on Wednesday to try their luck.

The Nation’s business model appears to focus on internalizing dollars spent and dollars received, as well as on building tribal economic and institutional capacity. The Nation reports that it financed the casinos, 92 percent of casino employees are Navajo, and it is not using an outside management company.

For more, see “Navajos Bet First Casino Is a Winner,” “Navajo Trail to Gaming,” and “Navajo Nation Opens its First Casino in New Mexico.”

Amidst Concerns, Navajo Casino Set to Open

2008-11-15T11:30:00.000-08:00

The Navajo Nation has long exercised its tribal sovereignty *not* to conduct gaming. As we wrote in our first book, Indian Gaming and Tribal Sovereignty: The Casino Compromise (2005):

For some tribes, gaming simply is not an option because their reservations are located in states that disallow any form of gambling. For others, isolated locales or lack of financial resources may restrict their ability to open or sustain a casino.

Even in the absence of these practical limitations, a few tribes have chosen not to pursue gaming enterprises based on tribal values and beliefs. Perhaps the most-cited example is the Navajo Nation's past rejection of gaming -- but that may change.

The Navajo Nation is both the largest tribe, with over 250,000 enrolled members, and the largest reservation in the U.S., covering 17.5 million acres in northwest New Mexico, northeast Arizona, and southeast Utah. In the mid-1990s, the tribe twice voted down referenda to build a casino. Opposition to a tribal casino was strongly influenced by Navajo beliefs that gambling can corrupt and destroy.
In 2002, Arizona voters approved Proposition 202, which allotted casino and slot machine rights to both the Navajo and the Hopi, who also have rejected gaming in the past. The referendum allowed either tribe to open its own casinos or to lease their rights to other tribes in the state. Recently, the Navajo announced plans to build a casino near Albuquerque in the Tohajilee Reservation, a small satellite of the main Navajo reservation. Despite tribal teachings against gambling, many Navajo are encouraged that gaming may help raise the living standard of a people whose unemployment rate is 44 percent and per-capita income is just over $6,000. "We thought we would be better off economically if we could do the same thing that other tribes have done in the area," said Tohajillee Chapter President Tony Sacatero. "Even if you don't have a casino here, people are still going to go someplace else. But if you build it here, the money is going to stay here."

Now, three years after we wrote that, the Navajo Nation is set to open Fire Rock Casino near Gallup, NM. The casino is expected to generate about $32 million in revenue for the tribe, and to diminish the tribe's current 50% unemployment rate. Still, many tribal members continue to raise concerns about alcohol, smoking, and problem gambling.

Read more.

Obama and Indian Country

2008-11-07T13:58:00.000-08:00

Wow! We have a new tag for blog posts: Obama!

An historic election has come and gone, and now President-elect Obama has begun the process of building a transition team and his incoming administration. What will be the outlook for Indian Country? Let's try to suss out some informed predictions.

First, Obama is an empty vessel, with little record to examine concerning Indian Country. As outsiders, we can pour much into that empty vessel, at least in terms of expectations.

Second, as we all know, Obama faces enormous expectations across the board. This certainly is the case in Indian Country. He has been set up (and has set himself up) to succeed or fail –- and not much in between. Such high expectations are impossible to fulfill.

Now, let’s look at the basics. In terms of a general philosophy, Obama lines up pretty well with a Clintonian view in at least two ways: government generally can play an important role in generating opportunities for greater legal, political, social, and economic equality, and the federal government should support initiatives that promote American Indian tribal self-determination and economic development.

Given that, what specifics can we point to in terms of what we can expect? We’ll address those in the next post.

More on Supreme Court Arguments in Narragansett Case

2008-11-05T14:44:00.000-08:00

For more on the historic Narragansett case, see these links:

AP coverage of the case.

Providence Journal article on which attorney actually argued the case.

U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Narragansett Case on November 3

2008-10-31T15:03:00.000-07:00

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Carcieri v. Kempthorne, the case that is expected to settle, once and for all, the litigation between Rhode Island and the Narragansett Indian Tribe that began in 1975, when the Narragansett filed suit to recover tribal lands in Rhode Island.

The Court is expected to decide two key issues:

Can the Interior Secretary place in federal trust land that was privately purchased by Indian tribes recognized after the passage of the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), thereby removing the land from state control?

If the Congress passes an Act that terminates previous Indian claims to land, is the Secretary of the Interior precluded from creating additional territory?

At bottom, the case should resolve a split in interpretation concerning whether the IRA applies only to the tribes that were recognized at the time of the Act's passage in 1934, or whether it extends to tribes recognized after that date, or who are recognized in the future. Rhode Island has argued that since the Narragansett were federally recognized in 1983, the Interior Secretary does not have authority to take land into trust for the tribe, because the federal government's authority to take land into trust comes from Section 5 of the IRA, which was written to apply to tribes "now within Federal Jurisdiction" at the time of the Act's passage in 1934. It may seem like a legal technicality, but the outcome will greatly impact the ability of tribes recognized after 1934 to acquire land, and in turn, to exercise governmental authority.

The case is relevant to Indian gaming, because that's the boogeyman to states: if a tribe can get land, then it can get a casino, and that casino might be another Foxwoods (never mind, of course, the economic benefits tribal gaming has brought to the state of Connecticut).

Read more here.

Happy 20th Birthday, IGRA!

2008-10-28T06:54:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, Oct. 17, marked the 20th anniversary of the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, signed into law by President Reagan in 1988. (As we've said in recent presentations on IGRA's anniversary, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away . . . . ") We were at a conference commemorating the anniversary (more on that later). In the meantime, here's some commentary:

20 Years of Indian Fortunes, Feuds (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Indian Gaming Dominates 20 Years Later (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Status Quo in Florida?

2008-10-20T09:07:00.000-07:00

Kathryn's quoted in this Tampa Tribune story on the aftermath of the Florida Supreme Court's decision invalidating a portion of the Seminoles' tribal-state compact. As we explained in a number of posts back in July (check our archives if you're interested in catching up!), the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Gov. Crist exceeded his state constitutional authority in authorizing banked card games through the tribal-state compact with the Seminoles.

Despite the state court ruling, though, the tribe continues to operate banked card games, such as blackjack.

The state is a bit stymied. The state attorney general has asked both the NIGC and the U.S. Attorney's office to stop the tribe's games, but to no avail -- not yet, anyway. The tribe has already paid the state $50 million and continues to make payments according to the compact's terms, and as Kathryn points out, stopping the banked card games may also stop the tribe's obligations to pay the state anything: The tribe's leverage, Rand said: the revenue sharing. "That's why, I think, you see the kind of paralysis you do on the part of the state. Do they actually want to push this? What if they just quietly allowed the status quo to occur?"

And -- sigh -- here's further evidence of the dubious distinction between revenue sharing and state taxation of tribal gaming.

According to the article, state senator Mike Haridopolos wants the state to negotiate a new compact that will require the Seminoles to pay even more: "We need to take a second and third look at this," said Haridopolos, R-Melbourne. "I've heard members consistently say that if you taxed all gaming that takes place in the state of Florida at Las Vegas or Louisiana rates, you'd bring in $1 billion a year. That could lower taxes. It's a viable issue to consider."

Read more: Decision Complicates Seminole Gaming Pact

We're Off to Arizona!

2008-10-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

This week, the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University is hosting "Indian Country's Winning Hand," a conference marking the 20th anniversary of the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The law was enacted on October 17, 1988, and established the overarching governmental framework for tribal gaming.

As one can imagine, the industry has grown and changed in many ways, some of which Congress clearly foresaw in 1988, and some of which would be news to those lawmakers.

We'll be commenting on Indian Gaming and Economic Trends, offering our take on the overall picture of tribal gaming's growth and economic impacts both on and off the reservation, as well as what we've called the "spectrum of success." And we'll note some trends in tribal gaming, including economic diversification, financial and commercial ventures, tribal-state partnerships (as well as the flip-side of that coin, tribal-state contestation), tribal-corporate partnerships, and private entrepreneurship on the reservation. We'll report back next week!

More conference information:
http://ilp.law.asu.edu/

The NYT McCain Article Has a Life of its Own

2008-10-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

The New York Times' investigative report on Senator McCain's ties to the gambling industry has been getting international attention since its publication last Sunday. The story was picked up by media outlets across the U.S., as well as by UPI and news outlets in the U.K., France, the Netherlands, Canada, Romania, Spain, Mexico, Turkey, and India, to name a few. It also has been the subject of blogs. And as we've noted many times, the Indian gaming connection seems to capture public attention, so that Steve's quote is making the rounds as well.

Here's a sampling:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-campaign30sep30,0,6036479.story

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-evitt/mccain-and-the-times-are_b_131252.html

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/09/democrats_quest.html

http://www.slate.com/id/2201128/

http://harpers.org/archive/2008/09/hbc-90003629

And, on the more questionable side, there are posts like this one (and no, we don't know how the "at UND" got tacked onto the reference to "more than 70 interviews and thousands of pages of documents at UND" from the NYT story):

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/76234