Thursday, July 10, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
States' revenue-sharing efforts may fuel tribal gaming
By TONY BATT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Thunder Valley, a tribal casino, opened June 9 near Lincoln, Calif. States are looking to reduce budget shortfalls by sharing gaming revenue with American Indian tribes.
Photo by Associated Press
|
WASHINGTON -- Cash-strapped states are becoming more aggressive in demanding to share revenues with tribes seeking to open gambling businesses, federal and American Indian representatives told a Senate panel Wednesday.
Such revenue sharing could lead to a significant expansion of tribal casinos on land outside of American Indian reservations, said Aurene Martin, the Interior Department's acting assistant secretary-Indian affairs.
Martin said states are "encouraging tribes to focus on selecting gaming locations on new lands based solely on market potential rather than exercising governmental jurisdiction on existing Indian lands."
Rejecting such tribal-state gambling compacts is difficult for the Interior Department, which must base its decision on federal law without regard for the potential impact on the local community, Martin said.
Another problem for the department is that it must make a decision within 45 days after a compact is submitted. Martin suggested an extension would be helpful.
Martin and tribal officials testified before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, which is reviewing the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988.
Tribal-state revenue sharing drew criticism from senators while tribal representatives called for policies to restrict the practice.
"States are taking money from destitute tribes," said Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, the committee chairman. "I can't imagine what the tribes are getting from the states."
States grew emboldened after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1996 that the Seminole tribe could not sue the Florida governor for refusing to negotiate a gambling compact, Martin said.
"Since Seminole, we have no leverage trying to compact," said Brenda Soulliere, who chairs the California Nation Indian Gaming Association.
