On the 8th of June, the U.S. Department of the Interior approved gaming compacts – between the Comanche Nation and Oklahoma, and the Otoe-Missouria Tribe and the state – starting a new era in state/trial relations. Despite direct opposition from many other tribes – including the Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma’s most economically powerful tribal entity, the pair of smaller tribes have secured a significant victory.

For decades, the federal government had made it a habit to grant every possible backdoor and monopoly advantage to the dominant nations, leaving little market share for smaller players. In-state government, as the Chickasaw and other Big Tribes gained unfair advantages, much of the ruling class in Indian Country and at the seat of government in Oklahoma City got a bigger and bigger share of the economic clout that comes from tribal rights short of reservation status.

On 15 July (Wednesday) at 11 AM EDT | 5 PM CET | 4 PM BST, Jonodev Chaudhuri (Chair, Indian Law & Policy Practice at Quarles & Brady LLP) will join Jaka Repanšek (Media and Gaming Expert, Partner at Hipther Agency) for an exciting talk about the latest updates coming from Tribes.

During the talk, they will also touch base on the current happenings and give some outcome predictions for the post-COVID-19 period as well.

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Guest Speaker – Jonodev Chaudhuri (Chair, Indian Law & Policy Practice at Quarles & Brady LLP) has extensive experience representing tribal nations, tribal citizens, corporations, and individual clients on issues relating to commercial litigation, gaming, governance, tribal sovereignty and self-determination, and economic development. Having spent his entire career serving tribal nations and Native communities in various policy, legal, and judicial capacities, he possesses a deep understanding of the connection between the development of strong governmental institutions and tribal self-determination.

In 2013, President Barack Obama designated Chaudhuri to serve as acting Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC). He was then nominated by President Obama and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2015. During his tenure as NIGC Chairman, Chaudhuri oversaw the $32.4B Indian gaming industry, comprised of approximately 500 gaming facilities, operated by 244 tribal nations across 29 states. While at the Commission, he provided guidance on a wide range of national policy issues including Indian gaming, economic development, energy, Alaskan affairs, and tribal recognition.

His law and policy track record extends beyond his tenure at the NIGC. Earlier in his career, he served as senior counselor to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, providing insight and counsel on policy issues. His 20-year legal career includes serving as a judge on five different tribal courts, including serving as Chief Justice of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Supreme Court, the highest court of the fourth largest tribe in the nation.

He also served as a community organizer, adjunct professor, public defender, legal services director, and author. A highly sought after speaker, he regularly presents at national and regional conferences and symposia, including the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA), FBA Indian Law Conference, Sovereignty Symposium, National Tribal Gaming Commissioners & Regulators (NTGCR) and more, including several keynote addresses.

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Host/Moderator – Jaka Repanšek (Media and Gaming Expert, Partner at Hipther Agency) has worked for various TIME (Telecom, Internet, Media, Entertainment) companies since 1996. He is recognized as one of the leading experts on gaming, media, and digital law in Slovenia. Jaka graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and gained his graduate degree from Cambridge University in England and Faculty of Law in Ljubljana (Diploma in European Community Law) and completed two-year MBA graduate studies at the University of Kansas in the USA. Jaka is an active member of IMGL (Slovenia) and a member of several other domestic and international organizations and is active also as a lecturer in various seminars and conferences.

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The session is free to join and will be highly interactive with a special Q&A session. Register to join! You will receive a reminder with the webinar link 24 hours and 1 hour before the webinar.

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Interested in becoming a speaker or sponsoring? Contact Andrada Bota to find out more.

We look forward to welcoming you to our webinar!