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Oklahoma Supreme Court Strikes Down Tribal Sports Betting Compacts
By Jeff Osienya Jul 23, 2020 LegalitySports betting in Oklahoma is as good as dead after judges in the state’s Supreme Court voted to throw out compacts that Gov. Sitt had negotiated with Comanche Nation and Otoe-Missouria tribes in AprilThe hopes for tribal sports betting in Oklahoma have been turned to dust after the state’s Supreme Court ruled against Gov. Kevin Sitt in a lawsuit that disputed his authority to negotiate tribal compacts. This complaint was brought to the courts by Charles McCall the Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and Greg Treat, the President Pro Tempore of the state Senate.
In the ruling which was announced on Tuesday 21st July, the court voted against the governor by 7-1 to render the gaming compacts that Gov. Sitt had negotiated with two tribes invalid. The only dissenting vote cast was because of the Native American tribes in question; the Otoe-Missouria and Comanche Nation tribes were not present in court. Based on the court’s opinion, the state can’t be legally bound by the compacts because the legislature hasn’t enacted any laws yet specific to tribal sports betting classified under Class III gaming. With this ruling, sports betting in the Sooner State is back to the drawing board.
What did the Nullified Tribal Compacts Say?
Gov. Sitt had inked betting compacts with the two tribes back in April offering each tribe a 15-year term, pending approval by the Bureau of Indian Affairs at the DOI (Department of the Interior). The governor’s compact with the Otoe-Missouria tribe approved the opening of new gaming venues in Payne, Noble and Logan counties as long as the DOI agrees to put the off-reservation land into trust. The Comanche tribe compact on the other hand gave authority for the opening of new casinos in Love, Grady, and Cleveland counties, subject to the same DOI conditions.
The two tribes also agreed to a 4.5% taxation rate on the revenue accrued from their existing gaming venues and 6% should the revenue cross the $300 million mark. These rates are identical to what had been stipulated in the contracts that expired on 1st January. For the newly okayed casinos, however, the Otoe-Missouria tribe had agreed to part with an 8-12% taxation rate on proceeds whereas 8-13% was to be paid by the Comanche tribe in the new gaming premises.
When it came to sports betting, the compacts with Governor Sitt gave the tribes authority to offer retail sports betting with a 1.1% tax rate on total income and the sports betting was to be conducted within 1,000 feet of the land-based gaming property. Event wagering in these compacts was allowed on all sports including eSports but betting on collegiate state teams or college games played in the state was off-limits.
Backlash from Other Tribes and Lawmakers
Unfortunately, as well thought out as these tribal compacts seemed, it was a long shot given that lawmakers in the state haven’t permitted regulated sports betting thus far. Currently, the only USA state where a tribe is offering sports betting without approval from lawmakers in New Mexico.
As soon as Sitt penned the new tribal compacts in April, Mike Hunter, the Oklahoma Attorney General called out the governor for his actions saying that he (Sitt) had exceeded his authority given that sports betting wasn’t prescribed under the Oklahoma Tribal Gaming Act. In his statement, Hunter also appealed to the DOI to reject the deals as they violated the state law, but the DOI in its part did the opposite.
Through its chair, Matt Morgan, the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association also came forward to disapprove the compacts between the governor and the two Native American tribes saying that they were ‘simply not the law’
And by the way, the suit against Stitt and the Otoe-Missouria and Comanche Nation isn’t the only compact-related Supreme Court case that the governor is facing. The same McCall-Treat duo still went to the state’s highest court to challenge two other compacts that Gov. Sitt had drawn with the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and the Kialegee Tribal Town. This suit is yet to be heard by the Supreme Court and a petition to consolidate it with the other suit was denied because the compacts don’t involve gambling products that the state legislature hasn’t approved.
The latest developments in Oklahoma clearly indicate that the state is still quite far from realizing a regulated sports betting market. There are too many moving parts that need to be handled first before any significant step in the direction of sports betting can be taken.
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