Oregon isn't the center of Indian gaming in the United States, but is very much
a part of it. There are 9 tribal casinos with over 6000 slot machines. Indian
gaming in Oregon is over 10 years old and any growth will be incremental, achieved
through hard work, reinvestment and good marketing - and that assumes the competition
remains the same.
This month the tribes dodged a competitive bullet when the state rejected an
attempt to put a casino initiative on the ballot. There is still a possibility
that one of the seven new initiatives filed may make it to the ballot in November,
the tribes have won this round.
The state rejected a package of ballot measures Thursday that could have
allowed construction of the state's first non-Indian casino. The two Lake
Oswego entrepreneurs backing the project, proposed for east Multnomah County,
said they would rewrite the measures and try to qualify them for the November
ballot. But critics said they doubt whether financial consultant Bruce Studer
and attorney Matthew Rossman have enough time to get any casino measures before
voters this year. Jeff Mapes, Oregonian, 3-24-06
Two Lake Oswego men who are seeking to develop Oregon's first nontribal gambling
casino have filed seven new proposed ballot initiatives to replace earlier
proposed initiatives that were ruled unconstitutional….filed four new
initiatives with Oregon Secretary of State…adding to the three new initiatives
they filed Friday, a day after Bradbury's office rejected the earlier versions.
Edward Walsh, Oregonian, 3-28-06
The most significant competitive change on the horizon promises to come not
from an outsider, but one of the state's gaming tribes - Warm Springs. Oregon's
Warm Springs Confederated Tribes have spent years and millions of dollars dutifully
following federal Indian gaming law in their effort to build a tribal casino
in the Columbia River Gorge. The tribes currently operate one of the smallest
casinos in the state, 340 slots as compared to the three largest with between
1100 and 1500 slots each, on its reservation. The site is more remote than most
of the other tribal casinos and therefore not nearly as profitable. The tribes
would like to change that by moving the casino into the path of millions of
tourists.
The possibility of a move into their market area has caused at least one of
the other tribes - Grand Ronde, with 1500 slot machines - to back efforts to
keep Warm Springs for reaching their goal. And along the way they have picked
up John McCain and a candidate for governor. McCain was induced to specify Warm
Springs as one of the tribes targeted by his proposed legislation; and in the
political fray for the next governor of the state, Grand Ronde is both praising
and bashing candidates depending on their stand on a casino in the Columbia
Gorge.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. said he wants to eliminate a procedure that enables
Indian tribes to buy land outside their reservations to build casinos…
As part of a bill to amend the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, McCain
said he has included a provision that would abolish the "two part determination"
[for placing land in trust for a casino]. Tony Batt, Stephens Washington Bureau,
Las Vegas Review-Journal, 3-1-06
The Grand Ronde tribe, which runs the state's largest casino, has jumped
into the middle of the governor's race as part of the tribe's expensive battle
to block another tribe from building a casino in the Columbia Gorge…began
running a television commercial Friday attacking Republican Kevin Mannix for
supporting a proposal by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs…The
same ad praises one of Mannix's rivals, Ron Saxton, for opposing the casino…The
Grand Ronde also has been helping to finance a separate political coalition
that has been running advertising that attacks both the Warm Springs casino
proposal… Jeff Mapes, Oregonian, 3-27-06
The good news in the current war against Indian gaming and sovereignty is unity;
excepting the kind of infighting illustrated by Grand Ronde and Warm Springs,
the tribes are presenting more of a unified front. And through organized lobbying
and congressional testimony they have had some impact; the government is backing
away from its attempt to have the Department of Justice define what a slot machine
is and allowing the National Indian Gaming Commission to continue to regulate
Class II games. The input from the tribes is apparently making an impact.
The Bush administration is scaling back its controversial gaming law proposal
amid overwhelming opposition in Indian Country, outgoing U.S. Attorney Tom
Heffelfinger said on Monday…the measure has been "significantly
revised" in response to tribal complaints. Provisions that would have
defined a Class II gaming device -- the most highly contested part of the
bill -- have been deleted, he told tribal leaders…Although he couldn't
release copies of the latest revisions, Heffelfinger said the changes put
the power back into the NIGC. Tribes had complained that DOJ was overstepping
its bounds by seeking a legislative solution for what has so far been a regulatory
issue. So the measure will direct the NIGC to develop its own gaming machine
definitions, a process the agency was undertaking before officials at DOJ
intervened and proposed the bill. "The tribes generally did not like
that the DOJ was going to define, through statute, the Class II standards,"
Heffelfinger said. "The revised statute," he continued, "recognizes
these concerns." Indianz News, 3-1-06
In a meeting held at Mystic Lake Casino in Prior Lake, MN, tribal leaders
from across the nation expressed strong opposition to legislation introduced
by Senator John McCain to amend the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and
agreed to send a letter notifying McCain that they would not support the bill…The
meeting marked the first time that tribal leaders have come together to develop
a position on McCain's bill, S. 2078….In opening remarks before the group,
it was said that S. 2078 was an unwarranted and unacceptable intrusion on
the sovereign rights of Indian tribes to govern themselves. PRNewswire, 3-23-06
Amid Congressional efforts to curb off-reservation casinos, the Bureau of
Indian Affairs on Monday announced a series of meetings on new land-into-trust
regulations. Setting an aggressive timetable, the BIA plans to hold four meetings
throughout Indian Country in the coming month. The effort begins this Thursday
on the Mohegan Reservation in Connecticut and ends on April 20 in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. The goal is to take input on a draft proposal the BIA released
in January. The agency, for the first time since the passage of the Indian
Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988, is developing standards for the acquisition
of lands to be used for gaming. Lands acquired after 1988 generally can't
be used for casinos. But Section 20 of IGRA contains four exceptions that
apply to newly recognized tribes, restored tribes, tribes in Oklahoma with
former reservations and tribes with a land claim settlement. Indianz News,
3-29-06
The Seminole Tribe of Florida has long been a leader in Indian gaming; not
from their presence in Washington or at national conventions, but in their actions
on their lands in Florida. From the beginning the Seminoles have pushed the
envelope, first with bingo, then with litigation against the state of Florida
and now with major casinos, including Class II games that look much like Class
III slot machines.
For years the leader of the Seminole was a larger than life chairman: James
Billie. He was a legend in Indian country, a singer, "gator" wrestler,
a high flying (literally) and high living super hero. Along the way he acquired
a few enemies within the tribe; enough in fact that they threw him out of office
- and in the process occupied the tribal newspaper they claimed was his mouthpiece.
Like the rest of his life it was a Hollywood film script - well in finally ended.
Billie is going to apologize and the tribe is going to pay him back pay. Somehow
I was hoping for something more spectacular. It just goes to show you, even
Chairman Billie is human. Maybe the movie will have a more exciting ending.
Almost five years after they threw him out as chairman of the Seminole Tribe
of Florida, James Billie and tribal leaders have reached a semblance of peace.
A legal settlement reached last week ends a dispute over Seminole finances
and marks the official end of an era for the tribe, which under Billie's watch
grew from a low-stakes bingo parlor into the state's largest casino gambling
venture. Now, the 62-year-old alligator-wrestling, larger-than-life Vietnam
veteran who led the tribe for more than two decades will do something fairly
simple but crucial: tell his fellow Seminoles he's sorry for his conduct.
In exchange for his written apology, Billie will receive more than $600,000
in back pay and retirement benefits for the time from 2001 to 2003 when he
was suspended and then officially ousted as chairman. Billie was making about
$330,000 a year at the time of his suspension as the head of the Hollywood-based
tribe. Erika Bolstad, Miami Herald, 3-24-06
The process of rewriting the NIGRA in congress is moving along more briskly
than either Pennsylvania or Florida. But as always the devil is in the details.
The exceptions are going to define the short-term impact of the new regulations.
If all of the applications in process, the tribes in Oklahoma and of course
those whose host communities supports expansion into urban areas are excepted
nothing will have changed in the short-term.
The same will be true of the other major legislative effort that impacts gaming,
the anti-Internet gambling bills; those bills, supposing that one passes and
the president is willing to sign it, will be defined as much by the exceptions
as what it prohibits. Like the circus in Florida and Pennsylvania there will
be many agendas and interests fighting to succeed. The rest of us can only buy
a ticket and watch the show. It is too bad Jack Abramoff is going to jail; he
would make a good leading man. I wonder if he can dance and sing, it could be
a musical: Congress is Gambling - The Musical. Given the recent developments
in baseball, there will be a Barry Batting Balls Over The Barriers number also.
The title is not as catchy as Chicago, Oklahoma or West Side Story, but the
production could be bigger, much bigger.
But now, that is simply my opinion, isn't it?
Ken