Tribe seeks control of reservation gaming
Pub Date: 4/1/2006
The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation laid out their opening position in newly started gaming compact negotiations with the state via a public announcement March 22.
The tribe is seeking regulatory control of all aspects of all reservation gaming tribal and non-tribal operations and taxing authority over it, a considerable expansion of tribal powers compared to the existing compact.
If no new compact is arranged, all Class III gaming on the reservation will have to end, as it did in the mid-1990s, leaving only the tribe to offer gambling of the Class II variety which features "traditional games" including bingo. Class III games are considered "casino games" such as poker and keno which are currently allowed under state law, but also other "table games" as well such as roulette, craps, black-jack and slot machines which are not legal in Montana.
Under the current compact which expires Oct. 1, the Salish and Kootenai are operating 185 Class III poker and keno gaming machines at 12 locations with gross revenues of $3.2 million a year, according to CS&KT spokesman Robert McDonald.
He said non-tribal licensees operate 371 poker and keno machines at 37 locations which are regulated and taxed by the state and have gross revenues of $5.5 million, of which the state collects $825,000 in taxes.
Initial press coverage said tribal machines grossed $11.4 million and non-tribal machines grossed $15.7 million. Instead, a later tribal clarification indicated those amounts represented the total cash-in and did not take into account cash paid out in prizes.
McDonald added that some early press accounts erroneously stated the tribe wanted control of all gaming revenues, whereas he said in a further clarification that the tribe was instead seeking the tax revenue currently collected by the state from non-tribal gaming operations.
The Tribe also operates an undisclosed number of Class II video gaming machines that have been declared by the courts to be a variety of bingo but which operate much like conventional slot machines.
The tribe is allowed to operate as many Class III gaming machines as non-tribal licensees operate on the reservation, may place as many of the allowed machines as they desire in any one location, and may offer $5 maximum wagers and $1,500 maximum payouts, whereas non-tribal operators may place 20 machines at a location and offer $2 maximum wagers and $800 maximum payouts.
The tribe is also running the slot-like Class II "bingo" machines that offer theoretically unlimited payouts. In 2005, one player won over $180,000 in a single jackpot on one of the Class II machines. Currently, the federal justice department is seeking changes to the National Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (NIGRA) that would restrict the Class II "bingo" machines.
Under the tribe's proposed new compact, the tribe alone would "license, regulate and enforce (law)...for all gaming" within reservation borders.
Further, the tribe would regulate and presumably tax all forms of gaming including video gaming, simulcast racing, calcutta pools, fantasy sports leagues, raffles and all other forms of gaming currently allowed by state law.
The tribe's proposal would authorize the tribe to, solely at their discretion, set bet and wager limits and prize limits, set the number of gaming machines, tables or devices, and to be the sole enforcement authority over all gaming on the reservation.
When it comes to tribal gaming and gaming operated privately by tribal members, the tribal government functions as the lone machine vendor and keeps 58 percent of gross revenues with 42 percent going to the location operator.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, April, 2006, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.