Oklahoma has more than 120 tribal casinos—the nation’s largest number. Native American tribes pay the state exclusivity fees on gambling revenue earned by their casinos in return for exclusive rights, granted by compact, to operate Class III gambling. Currently, exclusivity fees are 4 percent for a tribe’s first $10 million of adjusted gross revenue, 5 percent for the next $10 million and 6 percent beyond that. The majority of the fees go toward education.
In fiscal year 2016, tribes paid $132 million in exclusivity fees. Many state leaders feel the fees are too low, considering the tribes make more than $2 billion annually from Class III gaming.
HB 1013XX, recently passed by the House, would allow casinos to offer ball and dice table games, which are currently prohibited in Oklahoma. The games now are played with cards or electronically. Tribes have been pushing for ball and dice games last year and this year. If the legislation passes, it would generate an estimated additional $24.9 million under current exclusivity fee levels.
However, state senators are reluctant to approve ball and dice games without renegotiating tribal gaming compacts, which all expire in 2020. But some lawmakers see the games as a bargaining chip to raise the thresholds for exclusivity fees, as other states have done. For example, Connecticut receives 25 percent of slot-machine revenues, nearly five times Oklahoma’s rate. In New York, an expansion of tribal gaming in 2013 included 37 percent – 45 percent tax rates on slot revenue and 10 percent for table games.
The Senate is expected to take up the bill, which requires a 76 percent majority to be sent to the governor.
