Montana tribe wants gaming control
HELENA – The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes opened gaming negotiations with the state Wednesday by proposing a new compact that would give them control of all Class III gambling on the Flathead Indian Reservation.
Tribal officials also want all money generated by Class III gaming within the reservation’s boundaries, including non-Indian gaming machines, to go to the tribes. Class III gaming includes casino-type games such as video keno and poker.
The compact, if approved, would be a major change to Montana’s tribal gaming landscape.
The Salish-Kootenai agreement with the state took effect in 2001. It expires later this year.
If a new one can’t be forged, all Class III gaming on the reservation will be forced to shut down, Tribal Council Chairman James Steele Jr. said.
Tribal officials plan to meet with the state again in four weeks.
Deanne Sandholm, legal counsel for the governor’s Budget and Program Planning Office, is negotiating on behalf of the state. Sandholm said it was too early to comment on the tribes’ proposal.
Five of the seven federally recognized tribal governments in Montana have negotiated gambling compacts with the state, she said, and officials are currently in talks with the Salish-Kootenai and Northern Cheyenne tribes. Negotiations for a new compact with the Fort Belknap tribes are expected to begin next month, she said.
Class III gaming currently generates $11.4 million a year for the Salish and Kootenai Tribes. The tribes operate about 185 gaming machines at 12 locations on the 1.3 million-acre reservation in northwestern Montana, said Rob McDonald, tribal communications director.
The state limits the number of tribal machines, as well as maximum bet and payout amounts, under the compact.
Salish-Kootenai officials don’t think that’s fair and want more control over those areas. They’re proposing the tribes be allowed to increase machine numbers, maximum bets and payouts if market conditions warrant.
“It would be driven by the market, what the market could handle,” Steele said.
Tribal officials also say they should be able to regulate all Class III gaming on the reservation, including machines owned by nontribal entities.
Officials have worried that state-regulated and privately owned gaming machines are producing more revenue for the state and their owners than are machines owned by the tribe. Tribal officials feel like they’re competing with the state and shouldn’t have to, said Joe Dupuis, lead negotiator for the tribes.
Nontribal entities operate about 370 gaming machines at 37 locations on the Flathead reservation. Those machines netted about $15.7 million in the last fiscal year, McDonald said.