Tribes could lose big with rule changes
Tribes could lose big with rule changes
Comments 
43
By Tony Thornton
Published: February 11, 2008
Oklahoma's casino-owning tribes would lose millions of dollars annually — along with an important bargaining chip — if proposed federal restrictions take effect, a new study indicates.
Advertisement
Oklahoma corners Class II market
Oklahoma tribes own more than half of the 160 Class II gaming locations in the U.S., economist Alan Meister reported in a study prepared for the Indian gaming commission.
The 30,044 Class II machines in Oklahoma at the end of 2006 represented 59 percent of all such machines in the country.
In 2004, Oklahoma voters approved compacts allowing tribes to offer modified Class III slot machines. In return, tribes must pay the state 4 percent to 6 percent of the revenue.
That money goes to fund teacher pay raises and other education programs. Tribes paid the state $54.5 million from Class III machine revenue in 2007, according to the Office of State Finance.
Most state tribal casinos have incorporated Class III games, and a few have moved solely to compacted machines. However, Class II machines still comprise a large majority of the games available in Oklahoma, Meister reported.
Regs could expedite shift
Meister said the proposed Class II restrictions would force tribes to use only compacted machines by 2013.
If that happens, Oklahoma tribes would have to pay the state an estimated $122.3 million a year in revenue-sharing costs, Meister reported.
That's in addition to what tribes pay for running card games. Oklahoma tribes paid the state nearly $13.6 million last year in card game fees.
Meister said tribes also would lose the leverage the existing Class II machines provide when negotiating revenue-sharing compacts with states for Class III gaming.
Oklahoma's current tribal gaming compacts expire in 2020.
The proposed Class II regulations will make games slower and less attractive to many gamblers, Meister reported. That could force some marginal casinos to close unless they can offer a Class III alternative, he said.
Nationwide, Meister's study predicts a 42-percent decrease in Class II revenue, or $1.2 billion less in gaming revenue and $127 million in non-gaming revenue.
This is the second set of regulations proposed by federal regulators. Their first proposal, released in May 2006, met such opposition that the agency pulled it in February 2007 and spent eight months revising the plan.
The new proposals are considered less restrictive than the first set.
Related Topics:
Culture and Lifestyle, Special Interest Groups, Hobbies and Pastimes, Gambling, Card Games, Games, Native American Issues
Prev
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
Thank you for joining our conversations on newsok. We encourage your discussions but ask that you stay within the bounds of our terms and conditions. Please help us by reporting comments that violate these guidelines. To review our rules of engagement, go to Commenting and posting policy.
Log in below or sign up (it's free).
This is exactly the case with Native American's if they live on Indian land and use their tribe's license.
I think it might just work but then again, perhaps even more would avoid the greed of Oklahomans.
And everyday, when my Movado strikes 4:00, I get into my Mercedes and drive home from the casino to my house in the suburbs and squeeze my girlfriends big fake boobs that you helped pay for. LOL (Sorry, I watched Mr. Deeds last nite and have been dying to use that line, but its true)
As to taxes the tribes pay, they're voluntary. In regard to property taxes, take a look at what is paid "voluntarily" as opposed to what the ad valoreum would bring from a non-tribal entity. I'm not anti-tribe. But let's not be naive to the business advantages the tribes have been afforded.
However, they should have to provide their own transportation, roads, bridges, schools, etc.
If not, they should be taxed/tolled for the state and federal government providing for them.