Will ruling affect Oklahoma state gaming?
Will ruling affect Oklahoma gaming?
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By Tony Thornton
Published: August 12, 2008
What does a tiny Alaskan fishing tribe have to do with Oklahoma's $2 billion-a-year Indian gaming industry? Everything, cry critics of the Alaskan tribe's effort to place a few dozen one-touch gambling devices in its remote locale.
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What's the issue?
At issue is the tribe's recent effort to place a five-line amendment in its gaming ordinance. The requested change would have legitimized one-touch machines as Class II machines.
The National Indian Gaming Commission, which regulates the industry, has been seeking for years to create a clear distinction between Class II and Class III gaming. Tribes can offer Class II without a state compact. Under Class III, tribes typically must pay states a share of their profits.
In June, the commission's chairman, Phil Hogen, denied the Alaska tribe's request on the same day he announced in Oklahoma City that he was shelving proposed restrictions on Class II games. Critics, including Oklahoma congressmen Tom Cole and Dan Boren, claim the proposed rules would devastate the industry and threaten tribes' sovereignty.
Boren, D-Muskogee, who gave the convention's opening address Monday, said he's concerned Hogen may have pulled "an end-around” by denying the Alaska tribe's request. That action sets up a probable appeal in the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco, legal experts say.
In an interview, Boren said it appears federal regulators "may be using the judicial process,” rather than government-to-government negotiations, to create the Class II restrictions.
Hogen said he is aware of the growing belief among the industry "that this is some kind of a conspiracy deal.”
"In terms of us trying to be secretive, I'm offended by those kinds of statements,” Hogen said.
He admitted that if the courts uphold his ruling concerning the Alaskan tribes' one-touch games, his agency might seek to enforce that ruling in other states. One potential target: Oklahoma, which by some estimates has more than half of the Class II machines in America's tribal casinos. Many of those are one-touch games.
Motives questioned
David Qualls, the association's chairman, calls the Metlakatla Indian Community's actions a risk to the future of Class II gaming.
Class II devices comprise more than half of Oklahoma's estimated 50,000 electronic gambling machines.
He said the tribe's legal fight is being funded by two game vendors with ulterior motives: one wants to force tribes into using its Class III games; the other has developed a two-touch game patent with hopes of taking over much of the current Class II market, Qualls said.
Webster said it's in the interest of Oklahoma tribes to let the court case be settled on the West Coast, because "the Metlakatla decision does not and cannot control Class II gaming in Oklahoma.”
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Anyway, the tribes that I have dealt with, contribute a large amount of the money that they make to the local communities to assist law enforcement and others with issues that the gaming centers cause.
Do you really believe the Oklahoma legislature would put the money into the communities affected by the casino's or do you think they would put the money into the communities that the casino's have a social effect on?