In a unanimous vote, Oklahoma lawmakers rejected two compacts that would have allowed the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and the Kialegee Tribal Town to offer gaming outside of their traditional boundaries.
The legislature’s 10-member Joint Committee on State-Tribal Relations said the compacts negotiated in 2020 by Governor Kevin Stitt included “significant fatal flaws.”
Legislative leaders sued Stitt in July 2020, saying he exceeded his authority by negotiating the compacts. In 2021, the state Supreme Court agreed and nullified the compacts. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond advised the panel not to approve them. In a letter to the panel, Drummond wrote, “Proper respect for the law compels the conclusion that the Joint Committee lacks authority to make valid that which the Oklahoma Supreme Court earlier declared to be invalid.”
Joe Bunch, chief of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, said the defeat “hurt.” He said lawmakers did not give tribal leaders an opportunity to explain how the two small and economically disadvantaged tribes would benefit from building new casinos in eastern Oklahoma County and Guthrie.
However, supporters said despite the panel’s vote, if the tribes win an ongoing federal lawsuit, they still could move forward with both casinos.
The compacts already were approved by the U.S. Department of the Interior, but the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s decision invalidated them. Approval from the Joint Committee would have ended a federal lawsuit in Washington D.C. filed by other Oklahoma tribes challenging the compacts.
Committee members said letting the two tribes build casinos outside their boundaries could set an undesirable precedent moving forward and also increase the number of casinos in the state. Majority Floor Leader Jon Echols, said he’ll continue to defend tribes’ ability to offer gaming on their lands, but added he’s “very nervous” about “carte blanche expansion into Oklahoma County.”
Following the vote, Stitt said 130 casinos already operate in Oklahoma and questioned why those two tribes would be barred from operating casinos. He said the state would have received increased gaming revenue, and both compacts would have benefited all Oklahomans.
