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Casino operator claims deck is stacked for Indians

Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2002 | 9:48 a.m.

GULFPORT, Miss. -- Indian casinos have an unfair tax advantage over Mississippi regulated casinos that translates into tens of millions of additional dollars annually, the president of Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. says.

Isle of Capri Chief Executive John M. Gallaway told the editorial board of The Sun Herald newspaper of Gulfport/Biloxi that the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians doesn't pay any taxes on casino earnings and has a monopoly on the Philadelphia, Miss., market.

Gallaway's Biloxi-based corporation is Mississippi's largest publicly held company.

He told the editorial board Monday that Choctaws do not pay the 12 percent state casino tax on winnings at its two gambling houses. He said that allows the Choctaws to keep an estimated $30 million annually in additional revenue.

"That's just not fair," Gallaway said. "Not paying taxes has allowed them to create tremendous wealth and become one of the most tremendous lobbying forces in the United States. We are not anti-Indian, anti-Native American, but we are for equal taxation."

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