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Wyoming Bill Opens Door to Tribal Casinos

"Gene Huntington, administrator of the state Gambling Control Division, asked state Assistant Attorney General Sarah Bond to assess the implications on Indian gambling if the Butte gambling proposal should become law.

"…`The short answer is that if wide-open gambling were allowed, even in only certain areas in Montana, the state would be obligated under federal law to negotiate in good faith with any tribe that requested such negotiations to allow those games,' Bond wrote in a recent memorandum. `Further, the current compacts with five of the tribes also contain some form of automatic approval for additional games and conditions of play authorized under state law during terms of the compact.'

"Bond said the state has compacts with five tribal governments: the Crow, Northern Cheyenne, Rocky Boys, Fort Peck and Flathead.

"…`In acknowledgment of the federal requirement to negotiate for additional games allowed under state law, each of these compacts contains some form of automatic ratchet-up provision that if the state authorized less restrictive conditions of play, for example, payouts or additional games, the compact is automatically amended upon the tribe serving the state with notice that it wishes to offer those additional games or conditions under the same parameters as the new state law,' she wrote in a Feb. 28 memo. `Alternatively, the tribes could request additional negotiations for additional games and conditions less restrictive than the newly allowed games.'

"…In response, Evan Barrett, executive director of the Butte Local Development Corp., helping promote the project, said the federal law does give tribes the right to seek expanded gambling to match any expanded gambling in the state…"

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