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A increasingly bitter battle over whether the nation's Indian tribes should be allowed to expand casino gaming operations off their traditional reservation lands threatens to bring Mississippi's only tribal gaming operator into conflict with longtime political allies and the state's private sector gaming companies.
Phillip Martin, tribal chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, wants to open a new tribal casino development on land the tribe has acquired in Jackson County under the auspices of a 1992 gaming compact he negotiated with the late Gov. Kirk Fordice.
But Gov. Haley Barbour told the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs in a June 22 letter that he opposed the Choctaws' attempt to open a casino in Jackson County and "any proposal to expand gaming into Jackson County, whether under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act or under Mississippi's gaming laws."
Jackson County residents have previously voted against allowing commercial casinos to operate there.
The 1988 regulatory act requires that states negotiate compacts with tribes to set rules and limits on gambling. States are not allowed to directly tax reservation casinos.
Neither the state nor the tribe has ever made public the full terms of the compact. But political columnist Bill Minor reported in 2004 that all the state receives from the tribe's gaming revenues under the compact is $250,000 for the promotion of casino tourism.
Tribal casinos are not subject to regulation by the state Gaming Commission - as are all the state's commercial casinos - and are not subject to paying 12 percent of gross gambling revenues to state and local governments.
Even U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, R-Pascagoula, a longtime supporter of the Choctaw tribe's gaming and other economic development ventures, is opposing Martin's attempt to move tribal gaming interests into competition with private sector Gulf Coast casinos under the original compact.
"The people of Jackson County should have their say on this issue," said Lott in a recent Clarion-Ledger Editorial Board appearance. "In that Gulf Coast market, they (the Choctaws) should come in under state gaming regulation and there shouldn't be any special deals.
"Nationally, I think Indian tribes are pushing the limits and that we need to have a little more clarity on how this (off-reservation Indian gaming expansion) is done," Lott said.
The Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal revealed the power of Indian gaming interests in the political arena. Abramoff directed the Choctaws and other tribal clients to donate millions in congressional campaign contributions to protect their interests.
Mississippi's congressional delegation received a total of $131,350 from Abramoff or his tribal clients or both. The Choctaws gave more than $1.8 million in campaign contributions to further their political interests.
Martin has said that Abramoff did not influence the contributions made by the Choctaws.
But the Abramoff scandal sparked a congressional push to "reform" Indian gaming laws led by U.S. Sen. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif.
A central issue in that reform legislation is the notion of "reservation shopping" - in which tribes acquire lands and then have them legally designated as reservation lands by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Martin rejects the suggestion of "reservation shopping."
"The (tribe) has had a commercial presence on the Gulf Coast since the early 1990s, and in fact this area was historically Choctaw land," Martin said. "Tribal members have lived in the region for generations. As such, we are seeking to take about 40 acres of reservation land in Jackson County and another 60 acres that is adjacent to that land, and make them eligible under federal law to be used for a tribal gaming resort."
But Indian gaming is an issue more complex than merely the desire of the Mississippi Choctaws to expand the platform of their gaming interests in the state.
Three out-of-state tribes are seeking to set up casinos in Mississippi, but as commercial ventures - the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut and, from North Dakota, the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation.
Jerry St. Pe', chairman of the Mississippi Gaming Commission and a Jackson County resident, points out that, unlike the Choctaws, the other tribes seeking to expand into the Mississippi gaming market are seeking to enter as corporate, not tribal, casinos and would be subject to state regulation and state taxation.
"I believe we have a compelling obligation to make certain that expansion of Indian gaming in Mississippi doesn't place the private-sector gaming industry at any disadvantage," St. Pe' said.
Martin, 80, who has led the Choctaw nation for most of the last four decades, doesn't see any particular advantage for tribal gaming.
"There can be no denial that the fastest-growing gaming destination in the country, if not the world, for the next several years will be the Mississippi Gulf Coast," said Martin. "This is why we are seeing such an interest from the major gaming operators in the country, including a few Indian tribes flush with investment capital, to build enormous resorts on the coast - they do not want to be left out of such a vibrant market. Well, neither do we."
Martin asserts a Choctaw right to "self-determination."
"Choctaw people endured nearly two centuries of neglect by state and federal governments. Our people were basically denied education, healthcare, and economic opportunities that others took for granted," Martin said. "We are no longer sitting in Neshoba County waiting for state and federal authorities to step up and provide those basic needs."
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