POJOAQUE GETS PERMISSION FROM INTERIOR TO PURSUE COMPACTS
Pojoaque Pueblo, whose gambling compact expires in June of 2015, has received permission from the Department of Interior to pursue a new gambling compact through federal channels. The process involves having the tribe submit a proposed compact to Interior, after which the state has 60 days to submit an alternative compact. A mediator would then select one of them, with the Interior Department having the final word.
The main issue is the revenue sharing. If Pojoaque joined the other tribes who had the compacts penned in 2007, they would start at the 8% that they currently pay, and could possibly end up paying as much as 10.5%.
For those that remember, Pojoaque lobbied as hard as any of the tribes for the original compacts in 1997 with a revenue sharing amount of 16%, and cheered wildly when the compacts were passed by the state legislature, signed by Governor Johnson, then ratified by the Department of the Interior. Once the compacts were passed, Pojoaque screamed about the unfair revenue sharing, and refused to pay it. They set up roadblocks for a short time, and were threatened with closure by the U.S. Attorney to New Mexico, John Kelly. They eventually signed the compacts of 2001, agreeing to pay 8% revenue sharing to the state.
Pojoaque is saying that they shouldn’t have to pay ANY revenue sharing to the state, because they no longer have “exclusivity.” Actually, “exclusivity” is not a legal element in gambling compacts in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Revenue sharing also is not approved in IGRA, as well, but who’s paying attention to federal law when it comes to tribal gambling? As long as the states get their revenue sharing and the tribes have a near monopoly on casino gambling, they ignore the federal law.
If the feds approve the Pojoaque compact proposal with NO revenue sharing, it will turn the whole system of tribal gambling upside down. Tribes across the U.S. will take their states to court to get their revenue sharing thrown out and chaos will reign. Some states would probably react by flooding the state with legalized gambling to recoup the lost revenue sharing, probably bankrupting many tribal casinos. Other states might take the tack to outlaw all non-Indian gambling, hoping that federal law would prevail and close down the tribal casinos, as well. Congress might intervene and produce a new IGRA that clarifies “exclusivity” and “revenue sharing.”
Stop Predatory Gambling New Mexico would love to see the whole thing collapse, but greed will probably prevail, and the casino/government complex will find some way to keep their predatory gambling options open.
A story in the Albuquerque Journal on the Department of Interior decision can be read here.
