Tribal-State Class III Gaming Compacts, Secretarial Procedures for Class III Gaming, Casinos, and Payments



The State of California has signed and ratified Tribal-State Class III Gaming Compacts that are currently in effect with 66 Tribes.

The Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior has issued procedures by which certain tribes may conduct class III gaming activities without a tribal-state gaming compact. Except as noted, the National Indian Gaming Commission, not the State of California, exercises regulatory authority over these Tribes' class III gaming activities. There are 15 Tribes with Secretarial Procedures.

There are currently 65 casinos operated by 62 Tribes. Of the 62 Tribes, 50 have Tribal-State Compacts and 12 have Secretarial Procedures.

Under a Compact or Secretarial Procedures, there are currently 32 Tribes making payments into the Special Distribution Fund and 30 Tribes making payments into the Revenue Sharing Trust Fund.





Footnotes:

  1 Compact was ratified through an alternate process that: 1) required the Governor to certify that it was materially identical to the 1999 Compacts at the time it was submitted to the Legislature; and, 2) was not rejected by the Legislature, as specified in AB 1385 (Battin, Chapter 874, Statutes of 1999). See Government Code section 12012.25(b).

  2 A Compact becomes effective after it is ratified in accordance with State law and upon publication of its approval by the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior in the Federal Register. Secretarial Procedures are effective upon its approval by the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior.

  3 The State of California entered into a separate Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Tribe as a government-to-government agreement for the purpose of enforcing provisions separate and apart from the 2006 Compact amendments. This MOA was approved by the Legislature under AB 1738 (Coto, Chapter 42, Statutes of 2007). On February 5, 2008, voters approved Propositions 94, 95, and 97, which allowed the Compact amendments and the MOAs to go into effect.

  4 The State of California entered into a Letter of Agreement (LOA) with the Tribe as government-to-government agreement for the purpose of enforcing provisions separate and apart from the 2006 Compact amendments. This LOA was aproved by the Legislature under AB 1212 (Nunez, Chapter 227, Statutes of 2007).

  5 On October 26, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concluded in Pauma Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of Pauma & Yuima Reservation v. California (9th Cir. 2015) 813 F.3d 1155 that Pauma's 2004 Amendment was rescinded. Therefore, the Tribe is subject to the 1999 Compact for purposes of payment obligations.

  6 The State of California entered into a Letter of Agreement (LOA)/Agreement with the Tribe regarding Section 4.3 of the Tribal-State Gaming Compact concerning additional payments into the Special Distribution Fund.

  7 The State of California agreed to perform regulatory responsibility under the terms of the Secretarial Procedures, which are largely consistent with the State of California's regulatory role in numerous tribal-state class III gaming compacts.

  8 After assuming regulatory responsibilities under the 2013 Secretarial Procedures, the State of California entered into a mutual agreement with the Tribe to transfer the regulatory duties and responsibilities to the National Indian Gaming Commission.

  9 SDF payment is based upon Pro Rata Share of Regulatory Costs.

10 Tribe contributes into SDF and/or RSTF and operates more than one casino. Contributions are marked only once for these tribes.

11 The State of California entered into a separate Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Tribe regarding the receipt and disbursement of Revenue Sharing Trust Fund contributions.