Tribes in several states are likely to propose mobile-betting arrangements similar to the hub-and-spoke system recently implemented in Florida, Indian gaming experts agreed.
“No matter what state you’re in, there may be a strong interest in tribes in those states to pursue that,” said Washington state Rep. Chris Stearns, former chair of the Washington State Gambling Commission.
He spoke Saturday during a committee discussion on the final day of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States’ summer meeting at Rivers Casino Pittsburgh.
Stearns is co-chair of the NCLGS Indian Committee, along with fellow Washington state Rep. Shelley Kloba. The two led a discussion featuring John Sparks, chair of the Cherokee Nation Gaming Commission; Sequoyah Simermeyer, who was chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission until becoming vice president of strategic partnerships for FanDuel in February; and Loretta Tuell, a lawyer now in private practice who worked for many years with the National Indian Gaming Commission.
The federal government recognizes more than 500 sovereign Native tribes nationwide, of which more than 250 operate gaming facilities, generating $41.9 billion in fiscal 2023. “All the nations are different in size, culture, location,” Sparks said. “As you do business in Indian country, it’s important to understand that while there are many similarities, each (tribe) is its own entity.”
Tuell said California is home to 109 tribes and tribal casinos there constitute an $11 billion industry. Simermeyer said tribes have a leadership structure, comparable to legislatures or community councils, that decides policy and objectives. State and local officials must understand tribes’ individual goals when negotiating gambling compacts or other matters, he said.
Tuell was direct: “Tribes want a seat at the table. And if they’re not at the table, they know they’re on the menu.” She pointed to California voters’ 2022 rejection of a measure to allow mobile sports betting, which most tribes opposed on grounds that it would weaken their gaming exclusivity.
“When they weren’t in the room to decide how it would be implemented across the state, they reacted in the way that anyone would have, by asserting their (gaming) exclusivity in a state where they worked a lot of years to develop infrastructure … and, most importantly, an active voice in various seats of power,” she said.
Simermeyer said anyone working with tribal governments must understand tribal leaders’ obligations and their strategies for economic development. “Our tribes have cultivated that over decades, not just in the area of gaming, but outside of gaming as well.”
Sparks said Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has been “overtly hostile and antagonistic” toward tribes over the past six years, including inappropriately signing compacts with other tribes and being sued by state Senate leaders over it. Media reports said Stitt’s office spent almost $2 million from gaming payments to the state to cover legal bills for tribe-related disputes.
Sparks said the showdowns have stalled important issues, most notably the possible addition of sports betting and mobile gaming. One key point of contention is whether mobile sports bets should be geofenced to local reservation areas. Tribes with lands in southern Oklahoma, closest to Dallas, favor that, while those farther north don’t. “Hopefully, we can get that worked out pretty soon,” Sparks said.
Tuell said the overarching goals are honest communications between tribal and government officials and a path to economic development that benefits all. Tribal gaming is “an economic driver not only for the tribes, but of the community around them,” she said. “Building relationships helps build the community and helps build the local economy as well as the state’s.”
