ARIZONA
For the first time in Arizona Indian gaming’s history, first quarter revenue reports have posted lower than they did the year before. According to the Arizona Department of Gaming, the state’s 22 tribal casinos contributed $24.4 million to the state between Jan. 1 and March 31, which is down just less than 1 percent from that period in 2007, but still $2.1 million more than the average quarterly contribution in the last three years.
CALIFORNIA
U.S. Magistrate Judge William McCurine Jr. has handed down a major ruling in favor of the Rincon Band of Mission Indians. McCurine has declared that the state’s negotiations with the Rincon for more Class III slot machines were “in bad faith.” The Rincon filed suit against the state four years ago, during negotiations for 900 additional slot machines at its 1,600-slot Harrah’s Rincon Casino and Resort. California was seeking additional fees for its general fund for OKing the machines, arguing that the cash was in exchange for exclusivity rights (i.e., protection from competition from private casinos). The Rincon argued that this was against federal laws that allow the state to collect fees only for certain uses (e.g., impact fees and problem gambling programs). McCurine agreed with the Rincon, ruling that because exclusivity was part of the tribe’s original compact in 1999, the state’s offer was akin to an illegal tax. The state was ordered to reach an agreement with the Rincon or be forced into mediation, although Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is appealing the ruling. Several other California tribes have agreed to deals like the one the Rincon rejected; no others have sued.
MAINE
After another failed gaming deal, the Penobscot Indian Nation is exercising its rights as a sovereign nation. In late April, Gov. John Baldacci vetoed a bill that would have OKed 100 slot machines at the tribe’s high-stakes Bingo parlor on Indian Island, despite the fact that it had earned a supermajority vote in both houses of the legislature. Chief Kirk Francis then declared that the Penobscot will sever all ties with the state and move ahead with expanded gaming plans on its own. The Penobscots will send no representatives to Augusta and decline all state assistance, although it will continue to accept federal funds.
MICHIGAN
The battle over the long-planned Gun Lake Casino is winding down, with a major victory for the Gun Lake Tribe, also known as the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Potawatomi Indians. In a 2–1 vote, a U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington has upheld a federal court’s decision to allow the Department of the Interior to take 147 acres of land in southwest Michigan into trust for the tribe. The tribe’s plans call for a $200 million casino with about 2,500 slots and 80 table games. The tribe had been fighting for its casino since 1999, with major opposition from anti-casino activist groups like Michigan Gaming Opposition and Taxpayers of Michigan against Casinos. The tribe applied for the land trust in 2001, and was approved in 2005, with an appeal attempting to block that approval filed shortly thereafter; an appeal has also been filed seeking to overturn this recent ruling in the Supreme Court.