By Nick Sortal
It also is not clear if, under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), sports wagering would constitute Class III casino gambling requiring amendments to tribal-state compacts. Re-drafting compacts could be problematic in some states. Betting that California is moving toward legalizing sports wagers, American Indian tribes are looking to dominate the action. A powerful coalition of tribes recently proposed a state constitutional. Recommended top 6 Indian Sports Betting Sites The Pro Indian Casino, the most complete portal dedicated to the analysis of the Best Online Betting Sites in India.After evaluating every relevant aspect with great dedication such as bonuses, odds, live bets, streaming events and much more, we are sure that in this article you will find the answers you are looking for on online sports betting.
As the possibility of legal U.S. sports betting inches toward becoming a reality, an interesting question is evolving in Indian country: Is this something we want at our casinos?
In December, the U.S. Supreme Court heard an appeal against the constitutionality of PASPA, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act.
Gaming legal expert Daniel Wallach was in the courtroom during the hearing and estimates the judges will rule 6-3 in favor of sports gambling. Whether that’s a complete repeal of PASPA or a narrower ruling favoring New Jersey is yet to be determined, he says.
But the ruling could open the door for sports gambling nationwide, and Wallach says up to 14 other states could quickly follow. (It’s the pet topic of the American Gaming Association, which has members from both the commercial and the Native American casino industry.)
State legislators, who would be the ones determining sports betting regulations of PASPA is overturned, heard a very coy Jonodev Chaudhuri, chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission, during a talk in January in Miami at the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States.
“We have a standard line and it’s by no means a cop-out,” Chaudhuri says. “We stay in our lane. We’re not legislators, we’re regulators.”
But he notes that most of tribal facilities are small and barely make payroll—but provide essential revenue for the well-being of tribes,
“They’re basically jobs programs, located in rural communities,” he says.
Stand-alone sportsbooks or wagering activities integrated into bar and restaurant facilities could be limited to fewer than 100 of the approximately 480 tribal gambling operations in 28 states.
Just 16 percent of the tribal casinos—many in urban areas—generate 71.5 percent of the $31.2 billion industry, according to senior economist Alan Meister of Nathan Associates.
Those numbers are why the National Indian Gaming Association leaders say so far potential support is sharply divided as they gather input from its members.
“We need to find out if Indian Country is ready to move ahead if there is a full or partial repeal” of PASPA, Debbie Thundercloud, NIGA chief of staff, told Dave Palermo in an article for Legal Sports Report. “So far the reaction has been mixed.”
Palermo noted opposition to sports betting voiced by tribes in California, Minnesota and Washington. He forecasts support from the Seminole Tribe of Florida, the larger Oklahoma tribes, the two Connecticut tribes and the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in Alabama.
Some of the tribes also are questioning what piece of a larger package of possibilities, such as internet gaming, sports betting would play. There also are questions of tribal-state compacts, many of which have clauses that guarantee exclusivity.
Others challenge the profitability of sports betting. A sports book, run right, makes about 5 percent on the dollar. A bank of slot machines in the same space makes 8 to 10 percent, and the overhead of staffing, etc., is lower. But those favoring sports betting point to the fact that having live games and people with a vested interest will attract more patrons overall—and that would grow the bottom line.
At the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas in October, Mark Macarro, chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians in Southern California, said the casino industry is being oversold potential profits based largely on the estimates that some $150 billion is wagered in the United States illegally every year.
He compared the arrival of sports betting to online poker, which was subject to exaggerated revenue projections, he says.
“We need some new studies, we need some analytics, we need something quantifiable,” Macarro says.
Tribes need to come to some conclusions not only on sports betting, but other new and related forms of gambling such as internet wagering, online poker, daily fantasy sports and esports.
“That is a concern,” Thundercloud says. “It’s not just sports betting. It’s bigger than that.
“So many forms of internet gaming are moving ahead before many legal questions have been addressed,” Thundercloud says. “It is starting to be seen as a mechanism to drive people to the bricks and mortar sites. That’s more of where the business decisions are going to lie.”
The Native American gambling landscape, while it has blossomed, did not sprout up in an organized, systematic growth pattern. There were legal questions, decisions made tribe-by-tribe and adaptations to each and every local market. So, it follows that the addition of sports betting would follow in the same pattern: A piece here, and a piece there. So if you’re expecting to be on Indian land making a bet on the Patriots during the Tom Brady era, don’t hold your breath—unless he’s the coach or the owner. ♦
Gaming briefs
Connecticut casino fight intensifies
Several members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation are asking the federal Interior Department’s inspector general to launch an investigation into why a pair of Indian tribes are being prevented from opening a new casino, Politico has reported.
The article says the Interior Department hasn’t signed off on an agreement that would allow the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot Tribes to open a casino despite a federal deadline. The tribes are planning a $300 million casino project in the Hartford suburb of East Windsor.
The article raises questions about whether the delay is connected to lobbying by MGM Resorts International, which operates a nearby casino. The tribes and state of Connecticut are already suing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.
Tribes unhappy with California regulators
American Indian tribes are fed up with what they say are illegal games in cardrooms and could sue, onlinepokerreport.com says.
The tribes say they plan to oppose sports betting and other expanded gambling in the state unless concerns about cardroom games and other issues are resolved.
“It’s time to quit messing around with these guys,” Bo Mazzetti, chairman of the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians, said of California gaming officials.
Social games launched
Hard Rock International and Seminole Gaming, both owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, announced the launch of online social games. The new games feature Hard Rock and Seminole Casino branded versions of what industry insiders call “social” games because payment is not required to enjoy the basic games and only virtual credits are awarded as prizes.
The games were developed as part of a contract with Greentube Internet Entertainment Solutions, a subsidiary of Novomatic Group. The games will run on the Greentube Pro platform and will be hardrocksocialcasino.com available in both desktop and mobile versions. The games on reflect the Hard Rock brand and allows players to link to their favorite U.S. Hard Rock Casinos. Free games include social versions of slot machines, blackjack and roulette. www.seminolesocialcasino.com
The social games website for Seminole Casinos, www.seminolesocialcasino.com, offers social games that mirror slot machines and table games, with tournament play and high limit room options available.
[toc]The Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes, who share Connecticut’s American Indian casino market, operating gambling resorts in Uncasville and Mashantucket, anxiously anticipate adding legalized sports betting to their host of wagering options.
But the tribes say they are not yet certain they would be operating sports betting as a tribal government enterprise under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) – as they do their casinos – or as a commercial venture, taxed and regulated by the state.
“We have not begun those discussions in detail but are looking forward to being a lead state,” Chuck Bunnell, Mohegan’s chief of staff, said in an email.
“It is premature to speculate on how any such legislation might impact on our rights under IGRA, much less on the provisions” of tribal-state regulatory agreements, or compacts, with the state of Connecticut, said Lori Potter, spokeswoman for Pequot’s Foxwoods resort.
Talks will intensify if the US Supreme Court deliberating a New Jersey lawsuit tosses out the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). Connecticut is one of a variety of states that have introduced legislation to legalize sports betting if PASPA is wiped off the books.
Where do tribes come down on sports betting?
The commercial and tribal government segments of the US casino industry are anticipating the high court’s decision. The matter will likely be argued this fall and ruled on next year.
But while the commercial casino industry may be eager in its anticipation, tribal government casino operators are a bit apprehensive, with good reason.
Tribal governments and commercial casino companies each operate about 460 to 480 casinos generating about $30 billion a year and employing some 330,000 workers.
But while commercial casinos are prepared to run with sports betting, expanding the scope of legal gambling will be problematic for 244 tribes in 29 states operating under federal law (IGRA) and tribal-state compacts limiting the scope and regulation of gambling on Indian lands.
Many of those compacts provide tribes statewide or regional exclusivity. Tribes in at least ten states pay a share of casino revenues in exchange for the exclusivity.
But few compacts cover sports betting, which means the agreements will have to be amended if PASPA prohibitions are lifted and tribes want to offer that form of wagering.
Either that, or new compacts will have to be negotiated, a potentially difficult task where tribal-state relations are strained. Compact negotiations have been prolonged or at least mildly contentious in California, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Michigan and elsewhere.
Tribes at a disadvantage?
Tribes go into any negotiations with states at a strategic disadvantage because they are prohibited by the 11th Amendment and Seminole Tribe of Florida v Florida (1996) from filing a lawsuit in the event of bad faith negotiations. California is one of the rare states that have waived their 11th Amendment protections.
The last option for tribes is to operate sports betting as a commercial venture under state jurisdiction, an erosion of their governmental sovereignty.
“We’re aware of individual tribes that want to have sports betting, which is great,” said a tribal official who requested anonymity.
“But the implementation part is tricky. It comes down to state-by-state and regional concerns and what the compact says.”
“It doesn’t necessarily mean tribes are opposed to sports betting,” said Valerie Spicer, founding partner of the Trilogy Group, a tribal government consulting firm. “They are concerned about the impact it may have on their current agreements.”
“We will be discussing these issues in depth at our mid-year meeting,” Ernie Stevens, chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA), said of the group’s gathering Sept. 19-20 at the Renaissance Hotel in Phoenix.
Lobby presses for states’ rights
The American Sports Betting Coalition (ASBC), a group of gambling industry and state officials, law enforcement officers and business leaders, is advocating for the repeal of PASPA to “give states the ability to decide the question of legalization,” according to the group’s website.
The coalition was formed by the American Gaming Association (AGA) which primarily serves as the commercial gambling industry’s trade association and lobby, although it has as members seven of the 244 casino tribes.
The ASBC seeks to:
- Defer to states regarding the desirability of regulating sports betting as all forms of casino wagering.
- Ensure the integrity of sports betting and sports through state licensing and regulation.
- Make all sports betting businesses transparent to law enforcement.
- Ensure a tax regime does not undermine regulated sports betting operations’ ability to compete against illegal offshore operators.
The ASBC goals might rub tribal leaders the wrong way, particularly since IGRA was intended to give sovereign tribal governments – not the states – primacy in the regulation of gambling on Indian lands.
Tribes have different priorities
Thirty-three mostly urban Indian casinos generated half the revenue won by tribes nationwide in 2016, according to the National Indian Gaming Commission, which audits tribal casinos. Eighty-four facilities generated 72.9 percent of the win, or $22.7 billion, leaving nearly 400 operations to divvy up the remaining $7.3 billion.
A handful of those lucrative casino operating tribes are actively lobbying the sport wagering issue, including seven tribes who are members of AGA.
But a majority of tribes operate marginal, rural gambling operations that provide desperately needed jobs and meager subsidies to help fund programs for indigenous citizens. They view state intrusion, including the need to amend compacts, as a potential threat to their stream of government revenue. Betting on sports is not high on the list of priorities.
“There hasn’t been an appetite for expanded gambling that I’m aware of,” Ron Allen, chairman of the Washington Indian Gaming Association, said of state officials and leaders of WIGA’s 25 tribes, with the possible exception of three of the largest and more prosperous casino operators.
Blowback on NIGA joining AGA coalition
NIGA got a flood of negative blowback from tribal members when it announced in July it was joining the AGA coalition. The chatter got a bit heated when trade publication headlines wrongly indicated NIGA was supporting PASPA’s repeal.
Chairman Stevens issued a “clarifying” statement that NIGA was joining the coalition to monitor the group and not to advocate for PASPA’s repeal. NIGA’s priority, he said, was to protect tribal exclusivity and other rights under IGRA and the compacts.
“We realize that legalizing any new form of gaming, at any level of government, impacts our tribal gaming industry’s economic interests,” Stevens said. “These types of gaming issues raise provincial concerns unique to each and every tribal government engaged in gaming.”
AGA declined calls and emails requesting an interview.
“Repealing PASPA simply gives states, commercial and tribal operators the opportunity to pursue sports wagering if they so choose,” AGA President and CEO Geoff Freeman said in an email.
“States would have the opportunity to choose whether the activity should be regulated within their borders – it does not necessarily mean that they are the regulator and it certainly doesn’t mean that they can violate existing exclusivity agreements.
“Any suggestion to the contrary is fear mongering.”
That may not be the coalition’s intention. But any expanded, state-sponsored gambling could encroach on what tribes are allowed to offer under the compacts, limiting their exclusivity. Negotiations on new and amended compacts to allow for sports betting could in most states result in demands for new or additional revenue sharing.
Tribes divided over implementation
Casino tribes are divided on the issue of sports betting, largely because of the legal issues involved with its implementation on Indian trust lands.
Tribal gaming association leaders and others in California, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Arizona, Michigan and Washington – which combined represent about 160 tribes — can name only a handful interested in sports betting.
Connecticut’s two tribes support sports betting. California, with 110 tribes – nearly a third of the 367 federally recognized tribes in the lower 48 states – has strong opposition, particularly from the California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA), which represents 31 tribes.
California has by far the largest tribal gambling industry in the country, with 62 tribal casinos generating $8.4 billion a year, a fourth of the win from all the Indian operations nationwide.
California Assemblyman Adam Gray has introduced legislation to amend the state constitution to legalize sports wagering in the event the Supreme Court trashes PASPA. CNIGA, which opposes expansion of gambling in the state, spoke out strongly against Gray’s bill.
“We’re opposing the expansion of gaming,” CNIGA Chairman Steve Stallings said. “We’ll have to look at our expansion of gaming will impact our brick-and-mortar casinos, whether it’s sports betting or poker or anything else.”
Tribes may want to opt in or out
The AGA coalition seeks to make sports betting a states’ rights issue. But tribes believe with a lifting of PASPA prohibitions they have the option under IGRA to pursue sports betting in states where it is not legal.
“If the state opts out, that shouldn’t preclude the tribes from opting in,” said Sheila Morago, executive director of the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association, the second-largest Indian casino market with 33 tribes generating about $4.2 billion a year.
“We want to make sure the tribes have the opportunity to do what they want to do. That’s the important thing.”
Should a tribe wish to pursue sports wagering in the event PASPA is lifted, it can under IGRA request a state negotiate a compact. If a court determines a state fails to enter into good faith negotiations, the tribe can seek a compact through Department of Interior secretarial procedures.
Sports Gambling Indian Casinos
“If we go to the state of Minnesota and say we don’t want to renegotiate the existing compact – we want to negotiate a new compact – I don’t think they can turn us down,” said John McCarthy, executive director of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association.
MIGA has a tribal-state compact in perpetuity with no revenue sharing. Tribes have a cooperative policy to work with the state on gambling issues. But should tribes seek a sports betting compact, McCarthy predicts the state would “gouge the hell out of us.”
Myriad complexities with compacts
Tribes are confronted with a myriad of political, legal and regulatory complexities in negotiating tribal-state compacts.
Sports Betting Indian Casinos California
“If a state goes ahead and legalizes sports wagering that could be a violation of exclusivity, in some states,” former chief of staff of the National Indian Gaming Commission Joe Valandra said. “In other states, tribes could be opening the door to state regulations or new and additional revenue sharing.
“Every state is going to be slightly different,” he said. “The situation is very unclear.”
California has 75 tribal-state compacts and the constitutionally guaranteed exclusivity to operate machines and banked and percentage table games. The exclusivity does not include sports betting, which would require potentially long and complicated negotiations and the potential for further revenue sharing.
“I would think so,” Stallings said of compact renegotiations. “People like [Assemblyman] Gray don’t give that any consideration. There’s no thought being given to all these implications. There’s been no consultation with anyone in the industry.”
States would have leverage in compact talks in New Mexico, where competition is stiff, and Michigan, where tribes already compete with commercial casinos. The 33 gambling tribes in Oklahoma may have an easier time negotiating a new compact with a cash-strapped legislature.
The Connecticut tribes have no commercial competition and state officials enjoy a generous share of tribal revenues. Tribal officials hope they can reach a model agreement on sports betting.
“I am sure they don’t want to violate the compact,” Bunnell said of state officials. “That’s why discussions are so important.”