Chairman E. Sequoyah Simermeyer and Vice Chairwoman Kathryn Isom-Clause of the National Indian Gaming Commission recently announced fiscal year 2019 gross gaming revenue for the Indian gaming industry set a record at $34.6 billion, a 2.5 percent increase of 2018. Nearly every NIGC region posted increased revenue. The Oklahoma City region had the largest revenue increase at 7.7 percent.
Simermeyer said, “Healthy tribal economies are important to promoting the tribal self-sufficiency envisioned in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The growth reflected in the 2019 gaming revenue demonstrates the strength of tribal economies in recent years. The Indian gaming industry is a vital component to many tribal economies across the country.”
The reporting period for fiscal year 2019 ended before the Covid-19 pandemic forced every tribal gaming operation to close temporarily starting in March. Many tribal operations still are closed or are operating at reduced capacity.
Simermeyer stated, “It is important to recognize the pandemic’s impact on tribes. Tribes’ dedication to a safe and sustainable Indian gaming industry is demonstrated in the preventative measures tribes continue to take during the challenging economic times brought on by the pandemic. This same dedication has fostered a successful and responsibly regulated Indian gaming industry over several decades.”
Vice Chair Isom-Clause added, “While we welcome this positive report from FY2019, we know that the current reality is dramatically different. Future reports will reflect the effects of the pandemic on the industry, as well as how it continues to adapt to changing circumstances. Despite these current hardships, Indian gaming, like the tribal nations it benefits, has proved its resiliency over the years.”
Fiscal 2019 gross gaming revenue figures are derived from 522 independently audited financial statements submitted to the NIGC by 245 federally recognized tribes across 29 states.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a case about whether a non-Indian gambling equipment provider must pay state and local property taxes, including school taxes, for machines on an Indian reservation. The Oklahoma Supreme Court previously ruled that state and local property taxes on gambling equipment for casinos on reservations were pre-empted by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. A local taxing agency appealed the decision.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his dissent, “By enjoining a tax on ownership of property, the Oklahoma Supreme Court has disrupted funding for schools, health departments, and law enforcement. Although this case concerns only electronic gambling equipment, it injects uncertainty about whether state and local governments can tax the ownership of many other kinds of property located on millions of acres of now-tribal land. The sooner localities in Oklahoma receive a clear answer, the sooner they can plan accordingly and avoid serious funding shortfalls.”
In ruling for Video Gaming Technologies, which provides equipment to Cherokee Nation casinos, Oklahoma’s highest court said Rogers County “has not shown any nexus between the services it provides through ad valorem taxation and services that Video Gaming Technologies receives on-or-off tribal land.” The Rogers County tax board said “the issues at stake are critically important insofar as local governments in Oklahoma use ad valorem tax monies to fund local government operations, schools, law enforcement, health services and other government services—in the very jurisdictions where these casinos operate.”
Video Game Technologies, however, noted the amount of taxes at issue was slightly more than $10,000 for 2011, for example, one of the years in question. The company’s brief stated the county “presented no evidence to substantiate its frequent assertion that the preempted taxes are ‘critically important’ for local schools, law enforcement, health services or other government services.”
