Oct 16, 2008 - 04:06:08 CDT
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - State-tribal gambling agreements are complicated, especially when considering the responsibility of the governor's office to balance opportunities for all gambling entities, Attorney General Larry Long says.Long spoke Tuesday at the 2008 Governors Interstate Indian Council Conference in Rapid City, making it clear to listeners that he was not speaking on behalf of Gov. Mike Rounds.
Eight of the nine American Indian reservations in South Dakota have casinos, and they are operating on expired or nearly expired state gambling compacts for "Class III gaming," which includes blackjack, poker and slot machines, the attorney general said. Reservation casinos are capped at 250 gambling devices, card tables and slot machines, he said.
The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe wants more gambling devices and has sued the governor's office in federal court.
"They and the governor have not reached a resolution," Long said.
Flandreau represents three-tenths of 1 percent of South Dakota's population yet is in the state's more heavily populated southeast corner near Sioux Falls, he said. Long was asked if the tribe's Royal River Casino were to get 250 more gambling devices - as well as Pine Ridge's Prairie Wind casino in the sparsely populated southwest corner - would they earn an equal amount of the gambling dollars spent in South Dakota?
"It's a much more complicated question, especially when your duty is to ensure that all gaming has a fair shot at the gaming dollar," Long said.
There is opportunity for the Flandreau Santee Sioux and the state to settle out of court, he said. "I don't know when that case will go to trial."
The state has limited tribes' financial opportunities by capping gambling devices, said state Sen. Tom Katus, D-Rapid City. Much larger casinos in Minnesota and in North Dakota provide dividends for tribal members, he said.
"They can't get that cap lifted so they can run world-class casinos, as they do in Minnesota and North Dakota," Katus said.
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