Indian Gaming Now

The NIGC reports that Indian gaming revenue remained stable in 2009, with tribal gaming operations earning $26.5 billion as compared to $26.7 billion in 2008.  More than half of tribal gaming operations reported decreased earnings, while just under 40% reported an increase in earnings.  About 50% of the decreased earnings were single-digit decreases -- decreases of less than 10%.  Of the casinos reporting increased earnings, 15% of those said the increased were greater than 50% over the prior year.  Those increases are due to new casinos showing the first full year of revenue impact in 2009 or casino expansions.

As part of our visit to the University of Helsinki, we were treated to an insider's tour of the Grand Casino, the only casino in Finland.  The casino is operated by RAY, Finland's Slot Machine Association (Raha-automaattiyhdistys in Finnish).  RAY has the exclusive rights under the Finnish Lottery Act law to operate slot machines, which show up in convenience-store type locations, low-stakes table games in some restaurants, and the Grand Casino.  All of the profits go to fund health and welfare organizations.  In 2009, RAY's gaming revenue surpassed 650 million euros, or about $800 million.

We're off to Finland to give a keynote presentation at the University of Helsinki's 13th Maple Leaf and Eagle Conference.  Our keynote is part of a plenary session on tribal gaming, sponsored by the Finnish Foundation for Gaming Research.  Our lecture will discuss the law, policy, and politics of Indian gaming in the U.S.  The conference program is available on the University of Helsinki's web page.

We'll be back with accounts of the conference, and gaming in Finland!

Well, it's no surprise to us that the NIGC told Gov. Bob Riley that he couldn't shut down "illegal" electronic bingo machines operated by the Poarch Creek Indian Tribe.  According to the NIGC, the machines are Class II, and bingo is legal in Alabama.  Riley has been targeting electronic bingo in the state, and wanted to include tribal bingo in his sights.  But his crackdown on electronic bingo can't extend to the Tribe's bingo machines, which are governed by IGRA rather than Alabama law.

A federal court voided a tribe's $50 million bond debt, a controversial and significant development in the unmapped area of tribal finance and federal law.  The Lac du Flambeau Chippewa Tribe in Wisconsin, through its Lake of the Torches Economic Development Corporation, in 2008 had entered into a deal -- a trust indenture -- with Wells Fargo Bank to refinance and expand the Tribe's Grand Soleil casino project in Natchez, Mississippi.  The Grand Soleil project, in the works since 2005, hit hard times.  As a result, the Tribe wasn't able to make the promised bond payments due under the trust indenture.  The bond was secured by the Tribe's revenue at its Lake of the Torches Resort Casino in Vilas County, Wisconsin.  Wells Fargo sued the Tribe for breach of the deal,

President Obama has announced his nominee to chair the National Indian Gaming Commission.  Tracie Stevens, an enrolled member of the Tulalip Tribe in Washington state, has been serving as senior adviser to Larry EchoHawk, the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs.

If confirmed, Stevens would fill out the three-member NIGC, which has been operating in a time of transition during the entire Obama administration.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist has signed into law the renegotiated compact with the Seminole Indian Tribe.  The compact had been approved by the Florida state legislature.  Its terms, described in earlier posts, give the Tribe exclusive rights to table games at some of its casinos, and the right to operate slots at all of its casinos.  In exchange for the promise of exclusivity, the Tribe will pay the state some $1.2+ billion in the next five years.