Oklahoma tribes’ pacts ruled valid

OKLAHOMA CITY — A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Oklahoma’s tribal gaming compacts automatically renewed on Jan. 1, handing a victory to the tribes who sued Gov. Kevin Stitt to renew them.

U.S. District Court Judge Timothy DeGiusti rejected Stitt’s argument that the compacts — which define how much of their gambling revenue the tribes must pay to the state and which games are allowed — had expired on that date.

Stitt expressed disappointment at the ruling.

“It confirms my fears, and the fears of many fellow Oklahomans, that the State entered into a poorly negotiated deal and now we must bear the cost of this mistake,” Stitt said in a statement.

Matthew Morgan, chairman of the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association, and Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in separate statements that the court affirmed what the tribes knew.

“We appreciated that the court moved quickly to confirm … the plain language of our intergovernmental agreements mean what they mean, and here, those words mean our gaming compacts automatically renewed January 1, 2020,” Morgan said.

The tribes argued in the lawsuit filed Dec. 31 by the Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickaw nations, and later joined by six other tribes, that a provision in the compacts approved by Oklahoma voters in 2004 allowed for the automatic renewal of the compacts if other organizations were authorized to offer electronic gaming, other than pari-mutuel wagering on live horse racing tracks.