The Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission recently rejected Gov.Kevin Stitt’s proposal that would have blocked tracks from offering gaming machines or sharing in tribal revenue effective January 1, 2035, unless approved by the governor.
Stitt’s request followed a federal judge’s ruling in 2020 in favor of tribes that gaming compacts automatically renewed. Tribes pay exclusivity fees to the state for the right to operate Class III gaming and non-house-banked card games, but Stitt wanted to renegotiate the compacts to generate more revenue for the state.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond advised the 9-member racing commission to vote against the governor’s resolution.
According to the Oklahoma Voice, Drummond said, “The recommendation of this office is that it is unenforceable, illegal and would be wrongheaded for this commission to endorse that.” Adding that the commission should not delegate its statutory duties, Drummond noted a resolution approved in 2024 would not be enforceable by a future commission.
Following the commission’s vote, Stitt stated, “No contract should exist in perpetuity. That’s all I was addressing in the resolution. We cannot leave the state in a position of not being able to renegotiate those contracts. I wrongly assumed the AG would have wanted the best for the state.”
