Oklahoma Tribal Compacts Explained

A lot of revenue between tribes and the state of Oklahoma is due to compacts. Oklahoma lawmakers and tribes have maintained compacts for decades now. However, disputes about the compacts have created challenges for lawmakers and contention between some tribes and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt.

Monday, October 9th 2023, 12:13 pm

By: News On 6, News 9, Carley Crabtree

A lot of revenue between tribes and the state of Oklahoma is due to compacts. Oklahoma lawmakers and tribes have maintained compacts for decades now.

However, disputes about the compacts have created challenges for lawmakers and contention between some tribes and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt.

Lawmakers recently decided to override Gov. Stitt's veto of two bills that would extend compacts about how the state and tribes share revenue from taxes on tobacco sales and motor vehicle tags.

Stitt expressed concern that unless the compacts are renegotiated, the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark McGirt decision on tribal sovereignty, which says a large portion of eastern Oklahoma remains a Native American reservation, could allow tribes to undercut non-tribal retailers across that area.

For a brief overview of the conflict, CLICK HERE.

What is a tribal compact?

A compact is a type of contract between a state and tribes. Compacts between states and tribes put in place rules for the management of gaming activities, and how the state and tribes divide income from taxes on tobacco sales and motor vehicles. Although a compact is negotiated between a tribe and a state, the U.S. Secretary of Interior must approve it.

CLICK HERE for more information from Oklahoma.gov.

What is a gaming compact?

Oklahoma voters in 2004 approved SQ 712, which set up a model compact between the state and Native American tribes to regulate tribal gaming operations. The tribes were allowed to manage specific games in return for making payments to the state.

CLICK HERE for more information about Oklahoma's gaming compact.

What does Class III gaming mean?

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) Class III includes all forms of gaming; lucrative, casino-style slot machines, and ball and dice games. Class III gaming needs a tribal ordinance to pass, but it also requires tribes to conduct Class III activities “in conformance with a Tribal-State compact entered into by the Indian tribe and the State.”

What is the State-Tribal Gaming Act?

Through the State-Tribal Gaming Act, the state laid out exact terms of its offer for a gaming compact to allow Class III gaming to each federally recognized tribe within Oklahoma. Oklahoma tribes interested in Class III gaming were able to simply accept those terms without negotiations that are usually necessary in other states.

CLICK HERE for more information from the Oklahoma Bar Association.