On New Year’s Eve, three Oklahoma tribes filed a lawsuit in Oklahoma City federal court, asking Chief District Judge Timothy D. DeGiusti to declare the 15-year gaming compacts between the state and the tribes automatically renewed on January 1.
Governor Kevin Stitt claims the compacts expired on that date, and the tribes have been illegally operating their casinos ever since. He wants the tribes to pay the state more than the 4 percent to 6 percent they have been paying for exclusive rights to offer Class III gaming on slots and 10 percent on table games. The state has received $1.5 billion in exclusivity fees since 2006, including $148 million in fiscal 2019.
Instead of a declaratory judgement, DeGiusti ordered Stitt and the gaming tribes to enter mediation. The tribes that filed the lawsuit—the Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw nations—have been joined by the Citizen Potawatomi and Muscogee (Creek) nations.
DeGiusti added he wants a joint report on the status of mediation proceedings within 21 days of the mediator’s appointment and wants the mediation to be “completed or substantially completed not later than March 31, 2020. The court intends for this date to be a firm deadline,” he wrote.
Stitt’s office issued a statement noting, “The mediation order entered by Judge DeGiusti is welcomed by the governor and the state. The state’s legal team is committed to engaging in good-faith negotiations that will achieve a productive solution for the state’s future, for its 4 million residents, and for all of Oklahoma’s sovereign tribes.”
In a statement, Cherokee Nation Attorney General Sara Hill said, “We appreciate the opportunity to get these proceedings underway and look forward to working with the court to resolve the renewal dispute.”
Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association Chairman Matthew Morgan said, “OIGA is pleased to see that the judge has moved quickly to set a timeline for the first steps in resolving our dispute with Governor Stitt, and we look forward to a timely decision on the case. As always, tribal governments are bound by the compact, and will continue to abide by it. The tribes are making exclusivity fee payments for January 2020, and we are upholding our responsibilities.”
Stitt recently proposed holding the tribes’ payments in a special account until the compact dispute is resolved. In his State of the State speech, he asked the legislature to approve possibly using some state reserves to replace the $130 million in annual gaming revenue that usually goes to education.
Meanwhile, at the recent 18th annual State of Indian Nations address at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., National Congress of American Indians President Fawn Sharp said tribes face “a direct threat to their sovereignty” if they don’t stand up to the power of the Oklahoma state government.
NCAI Chief Executive Officer Kevin Allis added, “This nothing new to Indian County, right? When the other side wants to breach their duty and responsibility in a contractual agreement. This is nothing new to the tribes in Oklahoma, and they’re handling this just right.”
