Stitt seeks ruling in gaming case
Governor wants judge to determine authority to negotiate compacts
Gov. Kevin Stitt has asked an Oklahoma City federal judge to suspend mediation negotiations between Stitt and Oklahoma gaming tribes until Chief Judge Timothy DeGiusti first rules on the extent of the governor' s authority to enter into binding gaming compacts.
"Clarification is needed that the governor has ' full settlement authority' since the governor alone is authorized to negotiate and enter into tribal gaming compacts on behalf of the state," Stitt's attorneys said in a new court filing.
The governor's attorneys said a legal opinion issued by Attorney General Mike
Hunter and letters from other tribes have cast doubt on his authority to enter into valid compacts that would permit sports betting and housebanked table and card games that are not otherwise permitted under state law.
The governor said the issue regarding the extent of his authority needs to be resolved before he can continue with good faith negotiations.
"The Court should affirm that the Governor is authorized to negotiate and enter into new or amended gaming compacts with Tribes that address all forms of class III gaming and has the authority to bind the State to such compacts ... even if those forms of gaming are not yet authorized for nontribal entities under Oklahoma law," St it t' s attorneys argue in court filing.
Alex Gerszewski, communications director for Attorney General Hunter, countered by issuing a terse statement Friday.
“The governor' s filing yesterday is irrelevant to the case, wrong on the law and is completely inconsistent with the legal principle of federalism,” Gerszewski said.Class III games are Las Vegas-style games and include such things as slot machines, poker and roulette. Tribes are required to negotiate compacts with states before they can offer class III games, but can offer class I I games, which are derivatives of bingo, and traditional tribal games without entering into compacts.
St it t' s attorneys stated their request for clarification was prompted by objections from the attorney general and other tribes that arose after he signed gaming compacts with two tribes, the Comanche Nation and Otoe-Missouria Tribe.
Those compacts included the governor's approval for the two tribes to offer sports betting and house-banked card and table games.
The attorney general, leaders of the House and Senate, and several other tribes have issued statements contending the compacts are illegal and invalid because such games are not authorized under Oklahoma law.
The attorney general and other tribes have filed protests with the U.S. Secretary of Interior who must approve all gaming compacts before they can become effective. The interior secretary has until June 8 to make a decision.
On Friday, Stephen Greetham, senior counsel for the Chickasaw Nation, wrote a letter to federal officials that describes the governor's new court filing as an admission by the governor that he was insecure about his legal position.
"Governor Stitt has in the past week, one, conceded his executive authority is inherently limited and, two, admitted to insecurity in his position by seeking judicial“clarification” on the question," Greetham wrote. "Governor Stitt's concession and request for 'clarification' confirm our position that administrative approval of or accession to the agreements he tendered would be arbitrary, capricious, and inconsistent with law."
In the governor' s federal court filing, his attorneys argue that since Oklahoma law authorizes some forms of class III gaming, he has the authority to compact with tribes to offer other forms of gaming, as well.
Stitt's attorneys said federal courts have issued mixed rulings on whether states are required to negotiate all forms of class III gaming if they authorize any form of class III gaming, or whether they are only required to negotiate to allow tribes to offer specific categories of gambling that have already been approved in the state.
The governor's attorneys contend that even if the governor were limited to only authorizing categories of games that were already legal in the state, his compacts with t he Comanche Nation and Otoe-Missouria Tribe meet that criteria.
They contend sports betting is a form of event wagering and said the state already authorizes event wagering in the form of parimutuel horse racing, and that house-banked card and table games are just forms of card and table games and the state already has approved non-house-banked card and table games.
Attorney General Hunter said in his legal opinion that Stitt can't compact with tribes to allow sports betting and house-banked card and table games because t hey aren't legal under state law.
Several other tribes have taken that position.
Stitt "continues to stand alone among Oklahoma' s constitutional officers in a radical belief that he has some unchecked executive power to enact by compact a new, durable, and lawful Oklahoma gaming paradigm," Greetham said in his letter to federal officials.
"To be clear, the question Governor Stitt's actions present has never been whether he has the authority to negotiate; the question instead turns on whether he can unilaterally bind the State to the product of his negotiations," Greetham's letter states.