There is an interesting paradox: Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt is a member of the Cherokee Nation. And yet, since taking office a year ago he has been busy challenging the very structure of the tribal casino industry.
This is Trahant Reports.
Forget the word “tribes” for a second.
Instead think about how state and local governments attract industry. The messages are clear and consistent: We want to build your cars. We want technology jobs. We want you.
And so it should be with tribal gaming. The industry accounts for nearly $7.2 billion economic contribution to the state of Oklahoma. The job totals exceed 75,000 employees with annual wages of more than a billion.
As the governor wrote in an op-ed last summer: “By any measure, Oklahoma’s tribal gaming industry, and its economic impact on our state, have been a huge success and emerged as a big business. As a Cherokee citizen and governor of the great state of Oklahoma, I am proud of what this partnership has accomplished.”
But here’s the rub. Because gaming is so successful the state wants a bigger slice.
The issue is now in court because nearly all of the tribes say their compact agreements automatically renew if the state and tribes cannot reach a new accord.
So far it as business as usual this week in the 130 casinos across Oklahoma.
But the issues are significant. Tribes, unlike private gaming companies, use their profits to support governmental services ranging from healthcare to education.
Yet the governor has insisted that commercial casinos would be willing to pay a higher state tax, some 18 percent compared to what tribes now pay … fees that range from 4 to 10 percent. That has added up to more than $1.5 billion over the last 15 years, gaming officials report.
But it’s not enough. And the governor wants to start negotiations for new fees at 25 percent.
His threat is that commercial casinos would come to Oklahoma “tomorrow” if tribes don’t agree to pay the higher fees to the state.
The governor’s own advisor on tribal issues, former State. Rep. Lisa Billy, resigned because of what she terms an “unnecessary conflict.” She was blunt. “You have dismissed advice and facts that show the peril of your chosen approach and have remained intent on breaking faith with the tribes, both by refusing to engage with the compact’s language, and, more recently, by suggesting you would displace our tribal partners with private, out-of-state commercial gaming operators,” she said.
Bill Anoatubby, governor of Oklahoma’s largest tribal operator, the Chickasaw Nation, has called the governor’s actions reckless and it presents “an intolerable risk of injury to the Chickasaw Nation and its citizens.”
Nationwide the story is that when states and tribes work together as partners it creates a stronger economy for every citizen. Across the country tribal gaming supports 635,000 jobs paying $33.2 billion in wages and $16 billion in taxes.
It seems to me that would be an industry to court. Not to attack. Or worse yet … declare an “illegal” activity.
I am Mark Trahant.
