Legislature considers offering Wabanaki Nations more gambling revenue
Emma DavisMaine Morning Star
Among the many federal laws that do not apply to the Wabanaki Nations due to a land settlement act is one that offers federally recognized tribes the right to exclusively regulate and take in revenue from gambling on tribal lands.
Last month, the majority of the Maine Legislature's Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee voted in favor of a bill, LD 1164, that would give the Wabanaki Nations exclusive rights to operate internet gaming in Maine, though Wabanaki leaders say there is not much appetite from the governor for that change and the privately owned casinos are opposed, which could hamper that bill's chance of success.
On Wednesday, the committee heard testimony on another proposal, LD 1851, which, rather than altering the structure of who controls gaming, seeks to provide equality among the Wabanaki Nations in how much revenue they are provided from slot machine income in the state.
'One of the primary purposes of this bill is parity,' said Zeke Crofton-Macdonald, Tribal Ambassador for the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians.
The federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 codified that tribes have the exclusive right to regulate gaming on their lands, unless the state in which it operates prohibits such gaming under its criminal laws.
However, the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act has made it so the Wabanaki Nations are treated more akin to municipalities than independent nations, one way being that the Tribes are unable to benefit from any federal law passed after 1980, unless they are specifically mentioned in the law.
In 2022, the Maine Legislature amended the Settlement Act to permit the Tribes to handle sports betting, so the legislation being considered this session would build off of that earlier expansion.
Sponsored by Rep. Marc Malon (D-Biddeford) and co-sponsored by Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Cumberland), LD 1851 would increase the total net slot machine income to be collected and distributed by a casino from 39% to 46%, which would only impact Hollywood Casino, Hotel and Raceway in Bangor, as Oxford Casino is currently at that percentage. It would then provide 7% of that income to the tribal governments of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and the Mi'kmaq Nation.
'It is a matter of fairness and brings us a small step closer toward a more just relationship with the sovereign Indigenous nations whose land we live on,' Malon said.
The bill would not change the arrangement that is currently in place between the Oxford Casino and the other two tribes of the Wabanaki Nations — the Passamaquoddy Tribe and Penobscot Nation.
Oxford Casino pays 4% of its slot revenue to those two tribes, which Penobscot Chief Kirk Francis said was a deal struck when the casino first opened as a way for the Tribes to benefit without pursuing competing gaming, an agreement he said has been helpful for economic development.
'We don't want to take from the other tribes,' Chief of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians Clarissa Sabattis said, regarding the reasoning as to why the bill doesn't pull from the same pot of revenue as the other two tribes.
While the percentages are different, they equate to roughly the same revenue, around $3.5 million.
The bill would also bring parity among the casinos, as Mi'kmaq Nation Chief Edward Peter Paul put it, because it would raise the slot machine income provided by both casinos to the same percentage.
However, Chris Jackson, a partner in the lobby firm Mitchell Tardy Jackson in Augusta who spoke on behalf of his client Hollywood Casino, argued that change would be harmful to the casino financially because it would alter its tax rate.
'As long as our effective tax rate stays the same,' Jackson said, 'we are open to suggestions.'
While both bills related to gaming revenue could be passed, Sabattis told Maine Morning Star she anticipates the slot revenue bill will not be as necessary should the Tribes gain control of internet gaming, though she sees that path as the less likely outcome.
Testimony from the casinos against the online gaming bill also signal that. Steve Silver, chair of the Maine Gambling Control Board, argued that should that bill pass, Oxford Casino should no longer be required to pay slot revenue to the tribes.
Another bill the committee heard on Wednesday, LD 1838, would authorize electronic wagering terminals to conduct electronic beano by federally recognized tribes, among some other changes, which Sabattis and Francis testified in support of.
Overall, Wabanaki leaders argue their inability to access the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, and other restrictions under the Settlement Act, has caused them to lose out on revenue and therefore hurt their ability to provide services to their citizens.
This is supported by a 2022 report by a team of researchers from the Harvard Kennedy School that the comparatively lower economic growth the Wabanaki Nations have seen compared to other federally recognized tribes and the average Mainer is likely the result of the Settlement Act.
'All of our tribes have significant unmet needs and underfunded programs,' Sabattis told the committee, noting that her tribe would put revenue provided through this bill toward its wellness court, in turn reducing strain for social services on the state and towns.
The Wabanaki Alliance, a nonprofit created in 2020 to advocate for the recognition of the Wabanaki Nations' inherent sovereignty, hasn't taken a position on LD 1851, according to executive director Maulian Bryant.
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