I used to work for a casino back-office software firm here in OKC, and the Chickasaws were one of our clients. Yes they are highly diversified. They also have the largest number of casinos of any tribe in the state. Somtimes down the street from THEIR OWN casino. Like any shrewd business, they put plenty of thought into where they can make a good dollar.
If you think that every casino they have was built on historic tribal land, i have a big surprise for you. THEY AREN'T! So the theory about how the land has to have been tribal land, blah blah blah, it's not true folks. The Chickasaw have been the best at working the system in their favor to be able to build casinos on trust land that wouldn't normally have been allowed to.
The Comanche tribe is currently pursuing a lawsuit against the Chickasaw because of the way they feel the Chickasaws have been able to get away with what i just described. This is where the problem lies, and why i have VALID concerns about a casino here. The Bureau of Indian Affairs is what the body that evaluates the applications of land use...and FAR more importantly, PUTTING land into trust applications. Please carefully read and understand that sentence. It's the placement of land INTO trust, thus qualifying it for casino use. That is NOT the same as historic tribal lands. This is the purchase of commercial land, placing it into the trust, and then using it for what they want (ie a casino if they so choose). The Comanche lawsuit is against the BIA more than really the tribe because they are arguing that the BIA has been FAR too lenient with the Chickasaw tribe in their applications, allowing things that they should not have....WELL FREAKING DUH!!!
Couple of fact points:
1 - The Chickasaws have more than 24 casinos, as i said, more than any other tribe in Okalahoma.
2 - Most of these casinos are on land that was put into trust AFTER 1988!!!!!! No historic lands there folks. Unless you all thought that Remington Park was somehow magically turned from OKC Municipal land, into historic tribal land.
3 - The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act normally prohibits casinos on land put into trust after 1988. EXCEPT, section 20 allows for exceptions. The INTENT was to put in exceptions for lands on the reservation. This is where the loophole is. It doesn't say what date the reservation has to be. So it can be back to pre-territorial times. Guess how much of the state falls under that loophole....the whole thing. THIS is the piece that the tribe has been masterful at working. Most tribes have tried to stay within this and have been forced to by the BIA. The lawsuit from the Comanche is saying that the Chickasaw have been getting an unfair advantage from the BIA, winning cases that others would have lost.
Side Note - The Chickasaw and Choctaw settled a case back in 2015 against the feds for federal mismanagement of trust lands and got 186 milion out of it. No land, just money.
So i'm not just talking out me rear end on this. Working with tribes across the country on a daily basis for that job, gave me insights into several state's gaming affairs. And some states do some weird crap.
TFVC, i'm aware that the offer contracting services to the MMAC, among others. In fact, one of my current employees is a former IT MMAC employee on that contract. But one thing has been very clear from that. Working in that area doesn't equate to know the tribe. Those are two wholly different bodies that work VERY differently.
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