At a recent press conference at the Oklahoma state capitol, Governor Kevin Stitt said he stands firm in his belief that the state’s 15-year gambling compacts with Native American tribes will expire at the end of the year.
Stitt wants to negotiate new compacts with higher tax rates, but he said the tribes, who insist the compacts automatically will renew, have ended discussions with him.
“The fact of the matter is they have refused to communicate with me. This is going to cause extreme uncertainty if we don’t have a new compact before January 1, 2020,” Stitt said. “That’s why I’m going directly to the Oklahoma people to let them know what is happening.”
Stitt said his representatives were “kicked out” of an October 28 meeting between Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter and tribal leaders. “We were asked to talk about arbitration. We were asked to present our plan. And the state was kicked out of that meeting before we could present our plan. They would not listen to our plan. And then two or three days later, we got a subsequent letter that says arbitration is off the table with no other resolution for how to get past this,” Stitt said.
At the same time Stitt held his indoor press conference, Matthew Morgan, chairman of the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association, held an outdoor press conference. He disagreed with the governor’s view of the meeting. Morgan said, “We are very confident that all the triggers of Part 15 of the Oklahoma Model Tribal Gaming Compact for automatic renewal have been met and that on January 1 the compacts will roll over.”
Regarding the October 28 meeting, Stephen Greetham, legal counsel for the Chickasaw Nation, said the governor’s “characterization was not accurate.”
“The tribes are unified in their position that the compacts renew and they’re going to continue to operate,” Greetham said. “If Governor Stitt wants to force the issue he would have to go to court and try to get some kind of order to shut the casinos down. Barring that, we’re just going to continue to operate and we’re going to continue remitting our revenue-share payments to the state and we’re going to continue to grow, as we have for the last 15 years.”
Greetham said Stitt could go to court for a declaration that the compacts have expired, but that would jeopardize jobs and would not be beneficial to the state. He added that he has already prepared legal briefs for a variety of scenarios in case the governor and the tribes can’t reach an agreement. “The tribes have a fiduciary responsibility to their citizens,” Greetham said.
Stitt said he has a similar responsibility to 4 million Oklahomans, including tribal and other citizens.
He said, “I am a member of the Cherokee Nation. I am so proud of my Native American heritage. I am so proud of the heritage we have in Oklahoma for our tribes.” But he added, “This has nothing to do with the tribes. This is about the casino industry.”
Morgan responded, “You cannot separate the two. There is no ‘commercial’ gaming. We do tribal-governmental gaming. It is all tribal, and it all reports back to our elected leadership. You can’t disengage one from the other.”
Tribes operate more than 130 casinos in Oklahoma. Under the compacts, the tribes pay 4-10 percent of gaming revenue in return for gambling exclusivity. Stitt wants that rate to be higher. The fees generated $139 million last year based on $2.3 billion in gaming revenue. Between fiscal 2005 through 2018, Oklahoma public education received $1.2 billion from tribal exclusivity fees.
Stitt said he is willing to negotiate with individual tribes. He noted tribes in New York, Connecticut and Florida pay 25 percent taxes on gaming revenue. “I am willing to sit down and negotiate and talk about why it should be less than that or more than that. It is a great starting point. There is a good case that that is the market,” Stitt said.
Morgan said Stitt is “cherry-picking data,” using the highest rate in order to make his case. Morgan said the tribes want something of value from the state in exchange for higher rates.
