Oklahoma Betting Bills Get Out of Subcommittee
Two sports betting bills that would require four tribes to sign model legislation passed out of an Oklahoma subcommittee Feb. 10.
IGB reported that the bills unanimously passed out of the House Subcommittee on Appropriations and Budget Select Agencies. They will now move to the full Appropriations Committee, though no hearing date has been set. Oklahoma’s legislature is set to adjourn May 30, and there is no crossover deadline.
Rep. Ken Luttrell, who has sponsored gambling legislation in the past, is carrying the bills. He is also the subcommittee chairman. Feb. 10, he explained that HB 1047 would bring sports betting to the state via the legislature. If the bill fails, HB 1101 would then be “triggered” and the decision would go to the voters via referendum.
Luttrell did not specify in either bill whether retail or digital betting — or both — would be legalised should either bill become law. He says that the “tribes can decide” and that “we’re not going to legislate what the tribes do.”
Arizona’s Navajo Nation to Build Second Casino
The Navajo Nation of Arizona announced plans for a second casino near Flagstaff, reports Flagstaff Business News. The land was transferred into a trust last November, and the tribe can have up to 300 gaming machines. Tribal leader Buu Nygren said he expects the new casino to create 300 jobs during construction and 100 permanent jobs on completion.
The site, located about four miles from the Flagstaff mall, was home to the Horsemen Lodge Steakhouse, and Nygren says the tribe plans to reopen the restaurant. The tribe’s other facility is about 20 miles east of Flagstaff.
The tribe will partner with the Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise for the venture.
Kewadin Casinos Shut Down Following Cyber Attack
Michigan’s Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of the Chippewa Indians shut down its five Kewadin casino operations early this week following a ransomware attack, per multiple media reports.
In a statement Feb. 9 after the attacks were discovered, the tribe released the following statement: “Beginning Monday, Feb. 10 at 7 a.m. our gaming operations will be halted until further notice. We understand that this is inconvenient and unexpected news. Please know our experts are working around-the-clock to restore gaming operations.”
It does not appear that digital gambling was affected by the attack. The tribe did not release any details about the nature of the cyber attack.
In Other News …
Speak Up Shasta Association, composed of the Wintu Tribe of Northern California and the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians, has sued the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), reports Action News Now. In the lawsuit, the tribes say that the BIA did not consider a plot of land known as Strawberry Fields, is culturally and religiously important to the tribes. The BIA put the land in trust last July.
California’s Morongo Casino Resort & Spa and Casino Morongo named Mike Bean CEO Feb. 11. Bean is a former executive at Desert Diamond Casinos & Entertainment, Foxwoods Resort Casino, Harrah’s Entertainment and Mohegan Sun.
