Native American tribal leaders and Governor Kevin Stitt have been wrangling for months over the renewal of tribal gaming compacts, but now a federal court has issued a ruling on the matter.
The state now receives about $140 million from the tribes total annual take of $4.5 billion. The state wanted a new deal, while the tribes argued existing the compact automatically renewed on January 1 for an additional 15-year term. The US District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma agreed with the tribes in a ruling handed down Tuesday.
The nine tribes on the lawsuit include the Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw nations, which originally filed it, as well as the Citizen Potawatomi, Muscogee (Creek), Quapaw, Delaware and Seminole nations, and the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, which joined later.
