- Details
- By Chez Oxendine
- Gaming
A model gaming compact between the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and Oklahoma has been halted by the state's attorney general, Gentner Drummond.
The compact, which was reached in late April, would have restored the tribe's ability to operate a casino in Tahlequah,Okla. Drummond issued an opinion declaring it invalid June 9, however. According to the opinion, a statewide referendum that allowed the state to forge new gaming compacts with tribes at will expired Jan. 1, 2020. As a result, the model compact would first have to be approved by the Joint Committee on State-Tribal Relations, Drummond argued.
In a statement obtained by NPR affiliate KOSU, UKB Principal Chief Jeff Wacoche attributed Drummond's opinion to “influence” from the Cherokee Nation.
"The fact that the attorney general would issue a legal opinion that (erroneously) addresses the UKB without government-to-government consultation speaks volumes regarding the curious political influence of the Cherokee Nation," Wacoche said in the statement. "Were the shoe on the other foot there would have been daily personal consultations."
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. disputed Wacoche's claims.
“We know UKB will continue to misinterpret the law and misrepresent its own and the history of the Cherokee Nation,” Hoskin said in a statement. “But the truth remains: the Cherokee Nation has sovereign authority and exclusive tribal jurisdiction over our 7,000 square-mile Reservation in Oklahoma.”
The model compact was the most recent step the UKB had taken to restart gaming operations after a legal battle between the UKB and the Cherokee Nation shut down the tribe's casino in 2013. The UKB signed the model compact with Oklahoma on April 29, following approval of its gaming code by the National Indian Gaming Commission in mid-April.
A January 2025 opinion from Department of Interior Solicitor Robert T. Anderson found that the UKB and Cherokee Nation retained concurrent jurisdiction over the reservation lands in question. Anderson's 57-page opinion concluded that "the Cherokee Nation Reservation is UKB's reservation" for certain regulations.
In a story published by the Cherokee Nation's newspaper, Cherokee Phoenix, Cherokee Nation Attorney General Chad Harsha praised Drummond's opinion.
"I think his opinion was an accurate reflection of what the law is in Oklahoma and highlights that the UKB, as they have in the past, tried to operate illegal gaming operations," Harsha said. "You can't do so under the guise of a compact that's not available to them."
According to KOSU's reporting, the federal government has 45 days to respond before the compact is automatically approved by the Department of Interior. However, even if the department approves the compact, existing legal precedent would prevent federal approval from overriding state laws on gaming, Drummond said.
That leaves the UKB model compact in legal limbo — potentially approved by the Department of Interior, but awaiting state approval to move forward.
