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Posted: Sep 15, 2019 8:15 AMUpdated: Sep 15, 2019 8:15 AM

Oklahoma AG Hunter Hires Outside Attorneys on Gambling Negotiations

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AP/Tom Davis

Oklahoma’s attorney general has agreed to pay a Michigan law firm up to $250,000 to help represent the state in negotiations with Oklahoma-based Native American tribes over compacts that allow gambling.

 

Republican Mike Hunter’s office signed the agreement last week with the national law firm Dykema Gossett. A Hunter spokesman said Friday the outside attorneys were necessary because of their experience in tribal negotiations.

 

Discussions between the state and the tribes got off to a rocky start this summer when new Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt said he wanted to renegotiate the deals, suggesting the state should get a larger share of gambling revenue.

 

Tribal leaders have suggested they are open to renegotiating some of the terms, but the two sides disagree over whether the existing compacts automatically renew on Jan. 1.

 

Oklahoma’s current gambling compacts call for the tribes to pay the state between 4% and 10% of a casino’s net revenue in “exclusivity fees.” Those fees generated nearly $139 million in payments to the state last year on roughly $2.3 billion in revenue from games covered under the compacts. Non-tribal commercial operators are prohibited under the compacts from allowing gambling in Oklahoma, although a certain number of electronic gambling machines are allowed at horse racetracks.


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