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PIERRE - Leaders of South Dakota Indian tribes decided Thursday they won't threaten to bloc vote against video lottery to force Gov. Mike Rounds to negotiate gaming compacts with them.
Instead, tribal leaders at a meeting hosted by the United Sioux Tribes decided to form their own South Dakota Indian Gaming Association to speak with a unified voice on matters that affect reservation casinos.
"We have no choice but to really stand together," said Yankton Sioux Tribal Chairman Robert Cournoyer. State officials "don't want us to progress."
Several tribes have expressed frustration over failure to complete new compact negotiations with Rounds. The governor did not explain his position Thursday.
Each tribe negotiates a gambling compact with the governor or his representatives under terms of the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. Tribes have been limited to 250 slot machines, and most compacts are written for periods of four or five years.
Leaders of the tribes recently threatened to lobby reservation residents to vote against video lottery Nov. 7 if Rounds doesn't sit down and negotiate with them. A proposal to eliminate video lottery is on the ballot. Rounds did not meet with the tribal leaders Thursday, saying he had a conflict and couldn't attend.
The tribal leaders decided against the video lottery move, saying they didn't want to hurt private business owners who had invested in video lottery.
"We don't want to get in the middle of the state's business or the business owners in that industry," said Clarence Skye, executive director of the United Sioux Tribes.
The state Legislature and federal courts could be used to force action on stalled gaming compacts, a lawyer said Thursday.
John Peebles, who has been representing the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe in its attempts to write a new compact that allows more machines and a longer contract time, offered those options to reservation leaders.
"Quite frankly, we've been stonewalled by the state," Peebles said.
The United Sioux Tribes Web site says the number of slot machines in Deadwood gambling halls has grown by more than 2,000 since 1990, and the number of video lottery terminals in the state has increased by more than 6,000. The limit on slot machines for reservation casinos hasn't changed, the tribes said.
"Gaming is the impetus to create other economic development on reservations," Lower Brule Chairman Mike Jandreau said.
Peebles said more machines and longer compact terms would encourage investors to loan money to tribes for economic development, knowing gambling would remain in place long enough to pay back the debt.
He suggested tribes ask the Legislature to authorize longer compacts and a system based on free-market competition.
He also said that, because negotiations have dragged on, a federal case might be created on the argument that the state is negotiating in bad faith. If that could be proven, an arbitrator would step in and decide new compact terms.
Walt Big Crow, an Oglala Sioux Tribe council member, said his tribe is considering a new casino and plans 580 machines, well beyond the 250 limit.
"When the time comes, whether we have a compact or not, we just might put 580 machines in," he said. "I always think, how long are we going to let the state tell us we can only have 250 machines?"
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