Tribe wants out of exclusivity fee requirement

Wichita and Affiliated Tribes are asking an Oklahoma City federal judge to go beyond his July ruling that the state's 15- year gaming comp acts automatically renewed New Year' s Day and rule their tribal group is no longer legally required to pay the state exclusivity fees.

The Wichita and Affiliated Tribes contend the state violated exclusivity provisions in the compact by taking actions like authorizing mobile internet gaming through state lottery-sponsored secondchance promotions and expanding hours of gaming operations at horse r acing facilities.

Because of those purported violations, the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes want Chief Judge Timothy D. DeGiusti to rule they are entitled to continue offering Las Vegasstyle Class III gaming at their casinos without being legally required to make revenue sharing payments to the state.

William Norman, one of the attorneys for the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, said tribal President Terri Part on is "ardent in her commitment to and support for education and that commitment continues."

"The tribe's intent is to preserve its right to the original promise on which the payments were based in the first place — to conduct tribal government gaming exclusive of competition from private gambling interests," Norman said. "Preserving this compact right protects the validity of the exclusivity payments under federal law."

Norman said the tribes are not trying to get out of making payments that support education, but want a judicial declaration that the exclusivity provision has been violated by the state.

The request is being made to protect the tribes' ability to continue generating revenue for things like education and health care, he said.

Wichita and Affiliated Tribes also want the judge to award them attorneys fees and costs and to issue a declaration that they are entitled to damages because t he state has permitted certain nontribal forms of gambling. No specific damages are requested.

Wichita and Affiliated Tribes were among nine Oklahoma gaming tribes that successfully sued Gov. Kevin Stitt in Oklahoma City federal court. The tribes contended the state gaming compacts automatically renewed on Jan. 1, while Stitt argued they expired on that date.

The governor said he wanted to re negotiate the gaming compacts to get the tribes to pay more in exclusivity fees.

All of the tribes filed court documents Friday urging the judge to issue a final judgment confirming his earlier order that the compacts automatically renewed Jan. 1.

Wichita and Affiliated Tribes were the only ones asking the judge to go beyond that and declare they were no longer required to pay exclusivity fees and that they were entitled to damages from the state.

Tribes paid the state about $148 million in exclusivity fees last year, but revenue sharing payments this year are expected to be much less because of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other tribes involved in the federal lawsuit included the Cherokee Nation, Chickasaw Nation, Choctaw Nation, Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Muscogee ( Creek) Nation, Quapaw Nation, Delaware Nation and Seminole Nation.