"The tribal-state gaming compact between the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, recently submitted to the Department of Interior (DOI or Secretary) appears to have bumped Montana (tribes treated like tavern owners) out of 1st place for the distinction for the Worst Tribal-State Gaming Compact in Indian Country. The Secretary of Interior should disapprove it outright, if not for the sake of the Mashpee Wampanoag, than for the sake of protecting tribes across Indian Country from state over-reaching; some might call it extortion.

The Mashpee Compact is a case study in how states attempt to create illusory exclusivity in exchange for extracting revenue sharing (a disguised tax) from tribes. In this case the state and municipalities are extracting what may exceed 25% of gross revenue over “all gaming” from the Mashpee, including from Class II. As a quid pro quo Massachusetts gives only what it is already obligated to give under the Federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) and includes non-substantive concessions having to do with matters that fall far outside the scope of negotiations authorized by IGRA such as hunting, fishing, and water and land rights. The state ad nauseam claims to be giving Mashpee exclusivity while authorizing other casino gambling all over the state and the compact states that Massachusetts can still collect revenue sharing even if they authorize gambling near the proposed Mashpee Casino. It is as if the State believes that if it says exclusivity enough times in the compact that it starts to be real."

Get the Story:
Harold Monteau: Regarding Gaming Compacts and Their ‘Illusory Exclusivity’ (Indian Country Today 9/21)