The chairmen of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe and the Comanche Nation in Oklahoma recently sent a 10-page legal memo to U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, defending the gambling compacts they signed with the state and urging Bernhardt to approve them. The memo also was a response to Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter’s opinion that Governor Kevin Stitt did not have the authority to sign the compacts because they approve sports betting, which is not currently allowed under state law.
Comanche Nation Chairman William Nelson Sr. and Otoe-Missouria Tribe Chairman John Shotton wrote, “The compacts are the product of good-faith negotiations with the state. They comply entirely with federal and state law and they should be approved.” The chairmen noted, “It is entirely appropriate for a compact to include provisions regarding forms of gaming that are not yet legal, but may be in the future.”
The two leaders said if the compacts aren’t approved, it will be more difficult for the state of Oklahoma and tribes that are suing the state (including the Otoe-Missouria and Comanche) to reach a settlement over whether existing compacts automatically renewed, as tribes claim, or expired, as Stitt argues.
