Tribes Do Not Have to Tell

When the Michigan Lottery decided to launch what they call “Club Keno” back in 2003, they thought it would be a good way for the state to bring in some additional revenue. However, they did not count on the problems that it would bring as well.

Two tribes in the state were upset that the state was infringing on their territory, as they say they have exclusive rights within the state to operate commercial casino games, and by the state legalizing keno they were taking revenue from the tribes that they should not be. Therefore the two tribes, the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians in Manistee and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians in Harbor Springs decided to take matters into their own hands.

They decided that they were going to stop making their semi-annual payments to the state for the right to have exclusivity, since they obviously don’t have it any longer. They decided that since the state is now taking money from them, they were going to keep the money that the state would have gotten from them.

State officials took the tribes to federal court to force them to honor the revenue sharing compacts that they currently have, and said that they wanted to see proof that they had taken revenue from the tribes by opening Club Keno, and insisted on seeing their financial statements.

However, a judge ruled that the tribes would not have to show that information to the state, as it is irrelevant to the case. The judge said that the case is whether or not the state violated the agreements with the tribes, and therefore how much they impacted them is not the issue. This hurts the state’s case considerably, and it looks as though the tribes may win this one.

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