Oklahoma’s three largest tribes that operate casinos are suing Gov. Kevin Stitt as they seek to have their gaming compacts with the state renewed for another 15-year period.
The Cherokee Nation, Chickasaw Nation, and the Choctaw Nation on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in an Oklahoma City federal court seeking a declaratory judgment that their 15-year gaming compacts with Oklahoma automatically renew for another 15 years today, January 1. Gov. Stitt was named in the federal lawsuit in his official capacity as the state’s top official.
Oklahoma voters approved tribal casinos in 2004. The Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations signed their gaming compacts with the state in 2006. Under the terms of those original compacts, they renew automatically once the 15-year term expires, unless either the tribes or the state request to renegotiate them within six months of the compacts’ end.
In July 2019, Gov. Stitt asked the three tribes to renegotiate the agreements and warned them that potential failure to agree to new terms would mean that casino-style gambling would become illegal as of January 1, 2020.
Oklahoma’s top official wants the Cherokees, the Chickasaws, and the Choctaws to pay the state higher gambling exclusivity rates than the 4-6% tiered rates on Class III slot machines they have been paying since 2006 in exchange for being the exclusive operators of casino-style gambling in Oklahoma.
Tribes also pay up to 10% in exclusivity fees for certain table games. According to state financial data, Oklahoma has received about $1.5 billion in exclusivity fees since the gaming compacts were first signed 15 years ago.
A Threat to Employees and Business Partners
After the three tribes and the state failed to renegotiate the terms of the gambling exclusivity agreements, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations now hope that a federal judge will side with them and rule that their compacts automatically renew today for 15 more years.
In a statement tacked onto the recently filed lawsuit, Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby said that “we have a solemn duty to protect the sovereign rights of our Tribal Nations as well as the interest of our citizens.”
The statement went on that while the three tribes prefer negotiation over litigation “the federal court is now the only reasonable alternative to bring legal certainty to this issue.”
Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton commented that Gov. Stitt’s stance on the matter “has created uncertainty and has been seen as a threat to our employees and our business partners” and that they see litigation “as the most viable option to restore the clarity and stability the tribes and Oklahoma both deserve.”
According to the three tribes’ official websites, the Choctaw Nation currently operates eight primary casinos around Oklahoma and 11 Casino Too locations, the Cherokees have ten casinos around the state, and the Chickasaw Nation runs nearly two dozens of casinos in its home state.
Source: Tribes sue Gov. Kevin Stitt over renewal of gaming compacts
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