The Bush administration plans to clarify the difference between Class II and Class III gambling, a move experts say would require more Oklahoma tribes to compact with the state and result in millions of dollars for education funding.
"It will have a huge impact," said attorney Rick Grellner, who represents several small gaming tribes.
Minnesota U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger, who heads a Justice Department panel on American Indian issues, said the plan is designed to re-establish the distinction between Class III slot machines and Class II machines based on bingo.
"If there ever was a clear line, it has disappeared," Heffelfinger told The Oklahoman Friday in a telephone interview.
Heffelfinger announced the plan Thursday at a gambling convention in Las Vegas.
Federal law restricts tribes to Class II gambling unless they sign a compact with the state. Class III gambling, including slot machines, card games, keno and roulette, is reserved for tribes that compact with their state government.
Heffelfinger said in order for games to be considered Class II, they could not resemble slot machines and could not be automated. Also, players would be required to compete against each other and not against the machine.
Twenty-six of Oklahoma's 38 federally recognized American Indian tribes have signed compacts for limited Class III gambling, including video poker and nonhouse-banked card games. Under those agreements, the state receives a portion of their casino revenue.
Some Oklahoma tribes, most notably the Osage Nation, have signed compacts but opted not to install the Class III machines to avoid paying the state a share.
This would eliminate that practice, said state Treasurer Scott Meacham, the state's main compact negotiator.
"They've all been operating under the idea of, 'We're making good money off of these Class II games. Why should we go to these Class III games under the compact?' " Meacham said.
Bob Rabon, who negotiated the compact for the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, said he's not surprised at the pending federal legislation.
That such an effort was afoot to limit Class II gaming was well-known, he said, and that created a sense of urgency to develop the compacts.
"One of the selling points was that this would stop all this uncertainty. ... We found that the fees we pay the state to be well worth what we got out of it," Rabon said.
On compacted games in Oklahoma, tribes pay the state between 2 and 6 percent of the daily net-win, or the amount left in each machine after winners are paid. That money is earmarked for education. A small amount also is set aside from card games.
Tribes also pay a one-time $50,000 fee and $35,000 a year to run the office that monitors compact compliance