A bill that would allow an electronic version of keno in Arizona’s bars and clubs is advancing in the state legislature. Last week the Senate Judiciary Committee approved it 4-3, moving it to be heard by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Initially, Senator Sonny Borrelli’s Senate Bill 1312 included bingo, but Indian tribes that offer gaming in the state protested that this would violate the state tribal gaming compacts, so that provision was dropped.
Borelli argues that in Arizona keno would be similar to the lottery that the state already operates without crossing the line into Indian gaming territory.
Borrelli’s bill would create a State Electronic Keno Commission, which would oversee keno operations and divide the revenues between the general fund, education and public safety. The commission would determine where the games can be offered and how they will be presented.
Borelli envisions that venues that already offer the lottery would also be able to offer keno. Locations such as fraternal clubs, service stations and taverns. The American Legion is supporting the bill. Legion posts typically offer lottery and pull tab games and use the profits to help support their clubs. Many posts have seen such revenues decline when bingo migrated to the state’s casinos. There are about 47,000 members in 1450 post of the Legion in Arizona.
Angel Juarez, a member of the Legion told the Arizona Republic: “This proposal will enable our posts around the state to a great new revenue source that can replace those we lost when conventional bingo went to other locations.” With the loss of revenue from bingo, “our post saw a marked decrease in the programs we were able to support, hampering our ability to serve our veterans,” he said.
Despite the changes that have been made to the bill, some gaming tribes feel that it violates the 2002 gaming compacts, which provide that if non-tribal venues offer casino-style games that the tribes are no longer obligated to pay a share of their profits to the state.
Navajo Nation representative Mike Bielecki says Borrelli’s bill will trigger a provision of the compacts that is sometimes called a “poison pill.” He considers keno to be a casino game, and not at all like the lottery. Some video keno machines mimic video slot and poker machines. The difference is that keno winners are determined by a random number generator.
Bernadine Burnette, president of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and chairman of the Arizona Indian Gaming Association, told the Republic, “Gaming has been one of the very few economic activities that has succeeded in Indian country. It has created tens of thousands of jobs. It has allowed us to provide services to our tribal members that we could never have afforded before.”
Borelli says keno is very clearly allowed by the compacts. “The state reserves the rights for certain games … lottery, keno,” he told the Republic. “We didn’t give away all our rights.”
