Chairmen of Otoe-Missouria Tribe and Comanche Nation Defend New Gambling Compacts in Legal Memo

The chairmen of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe and the Comanche Nation have defended their recent gambling compacts with the state and urged the U.S. Department of the Interior to approve them.

The Comanche Nation Chairman William Nelson, Sr. and Otoe-Missouria Tribe Chairman John Shotton outlined their positions in a ten-page legal memo sent to Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt. The memo was in response to Attorney General Mike Hunter’s formal opinion earlier this month that Gov. Kevin Stitt overstepped his legal authority by signing the compacts, which authorize games, such as sports gambling, not currently permitted under state law.

“The compacts are the product of good-faith negotiations with the state. They comply entirely with federal and state law, and they should be approved,” William Nelson, Sr. and John Shotton wrote.

“It is entirely appropriate for a compact to include provisions regarding forms of gaming that are not yet legal, but may be in the future,” the memo states.

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The two leaders said failure to approve the compacts could make it more difficult for the state of Oklahoma to reach a settlement in a separate dispute with several other tribes about whether their existing compacts automatically renewed.