FEBRUARY 2019 http://www.ggbmagazine.com^27add sports betting to the mix.
As an increasing number of states with tribal casinos begin to move on
legislation to enable wagering on sports, many tribes are not getting on
board.
“The mid-range tribes are starting to pick up the pace in terms of look-
ing at sports betting and getting ready to move on it,” says Deborah Skenan-
dore-Thundercloud, chief of staff for the National Indian Gaming
Association (NIGA). “But I see the trend moving much slower with the
smaller tribes.”
“It’s moving very slow because of capital constraints and budget con-
straints,” Repa says. “The return on a sports book isn’t good. The margins
are thin.”
William Hill Race & Sports Book, which operates in more than 100 Ne-
vada casinos, bars and convenient stories, is seeking tribal partnerships for its
operational expertise, risk management and trading data.
Daniel Shapiro, vice president of business and strat-
egy for William Hill US, says any size of tribal opera-
tion—from a gambling resort to a small and
medium-sized casino to a kiosk—can avail them to a bet-
ting operation.
“We’ve been talking to lots of tribes, ranging from
very small to very large ones,” Shapiro says. “We’ll have a
conversation with anybody, quite frankly. If you look at
our Nevada operations, we operate in large casinos on
the Strip and we operate in small ones in rural Nevada.
“There are different ways of structuring an agree-
ment. Certainly we’re willing to provide the technology
and/or risk management. Kiosks are another way to offer
sports betting to a smaller property. Any tribe should be
able to operate.”
Meanwhile, California, Arizona, Oklahoma, Min-
nesota and other states with large tribal casino industries
taking up sports betting legislation in the new year aren’t
impressed with the bottom line.
“States in the beginning really thought this was
going to be a big windfall,” Repa says. “Now the reality
has begun to sink in. They’ve been educated enough that
they know it’s not what they thought it was going to be,
initially.”“Everything I’ve seen so far suggests that this would not be what one would
consider to be a pot of gold,” Ohio state Senator John Eklund, a Republican
who introduced legislation to legalize sports betting in his state, told the Associ-
ated Press.Risks With Compacts, Competition
Unlike commercial casinos, expanded gambling for tribes operating under the
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) presents as many challenges as oppor-
tunities.
IGRA requires indigenous governments seeking to operate casinos to enter
into tribal-state regulatory agreements, or compacts, many of which require
tribes to share their gambling revenues with the state.
Compacts vary from state to state. Some clearly define games permitted
under the compacts and do not specifically reference sports betting. Others
broadly refer to casino games, including sports betting as Class III gambling
under IGRA.
To operate sports books, tribes in many
states need to negotiate new or amended com-
pacts, leaving them vulnerable to paying greater
revenue shares to the state. This is particularly
problematic with the slim margins involved in
operating a book.
Meanwhile, in states where tribes have ex-
clusive rights to operate casinos, legal sports bet-
ting can create competition for the gambling
dollar from the lottery, racetracks and other po-
tential vendors such as taverns, card rooms and
charities.
In addition, IGRA limits tribes to gambling
on Indian land, creating a potential legal prob-
lem with mobile and account wagering. Online
and account wagering dramatically increase
profits from sports betting.
For a rural tribe in a state with no profes-
sional sports teams, wagering on sports may not
make economic sense if it is limited to Indian
lands, particularly when one figures in risks, up-
front capital costs, compact revenue sharing and
an operating agreement.The Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the
Lake Traverse Reservation currently has
no interest in offering sports betting at
its Dakota Magic casino“There are different
ways of structuring an
agreement. Certainly
we’re willing to provide
the technology and/or
risk management.”
—Dan Shapiro, Vice President,
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