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Court : Michigan Tribes Don't Owe Slot Revenues11 November 2001LANSING, Michigan —– As reported by the Associated Press: "Seven Indian tribes that run casinos in Michigan didn't have to give 8 percent of their slot machine revenues to the state in 1999, a federal appeals court says. "The decision means the state will lose out on nearly $14 million that tribes would have had to pay. "The tribes agreed to pay 8 percent of their slot revenues to a state business development fund under a 1993 settlement. The payments were to continue as long as the tribes `enjoy the exclusive right to operate electronic games of chance,' according to the settlement. " In a decision released Wednesday, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals said the tribes shouldn't have had to pay after Feb. 18, 1999. That was the date casino compacts between Michigan and two new Indian tribes -- the Little River Band and the Little Traverse Bay Band -- went into effect. "Gov. John Engler had argued that the tribes should have continued to pay until July 28, 1999, when the state awarded a license to the MGM Grand in Detroit. Until then, Engler said, no other casinos could have operated in the state. "But the federal appeals court said the state license had no bearing on the case, since only a tribal license is necessary to run gambling activities…" |