Gaming briefs for April 22, 2005

Friday, April 22, 2005 | 11:15 a.m.

Quapaw Tribe fined $50,000

An agreement between the Quapaw Tribe and a federal agency includes a $50,000 fine for allowing an outside agency to manage a casino without federal approval.

The agreement, announced Wednesday, was between the National Indian Gaming Commission and the Quapaw Tribe, which operated the Quapaw Casino in Miami.

That casino came under scrutiny in May 2003 when the gaming commission started investigating casino management. The agency determined there was no approved management agreement.

"We thought we were doing the same thing that other tribes were doing," said J.R. Mathews, president of Quapaw Tribal Gaming Corp. "But we are much smarter now."

Mathews said the tribe has hired a gaming attorney to instruct them on gaming policies.

Governor favors negotiating

Now that a federal agency has approved a land-trust request sought by an American Indian tribe in western Michigan, Gov. Jennifer Granholm favors negotiating a gaming compact with the tribe.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs approved the proposal to acquire in trust about 147 acres in Allegan County for a casino.

Las Vegas-based Station Casinos Inc. owns a 50 percent interest in MPM Enterprises LLC, a Michigan company that has an agreement with the tribe to develop and manage the casino.

Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd said Thursday the bureau's decision allows the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians to demand that the state negotiate the compact. Compacts may include revenue-sharing payments the tribes make to state and local governments.

If the tribe seeks a compact -- which is expected -- the state would have six months to negotiate in good faith, Boyd said. It's possible the federal government could go ahead and approve a casino if a compact isn't approved, she said.

"The governor favors negotiating a compact before we lose our ability to negotiate a compact," Boyd said.

Report says Waterloo, Riverside casinos have best chance

A study for the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission says that riverboat-style casinos proposed in Waterloo and Riverside in eastern Iowa offer the best potential to make money.

The commission hired Cummings Associates of Arlington, Mass., a consulting firm that has studied Iowa's casino markets over the past decade, to look at potential impacts of additional riverboat gambling operations.

The report being discussed in Council Bluffs by the commission on Thursday says two projects proposed in Emmetsburg in northwest Iowa have the least potential.

The commission will make decisions next month on requests for 10 casino licenses in seven Iowa communities.

Jack Ketterer, administrator of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, said Wednesday that Cummings Associates' research will be valuable to the commissioners, but he doesn't believe it points toward the approval or rejection of any license request.

Man wins two vehicles

A 71-year-old man beat the odds twice in the Ohio Lottery, winning two vehicles with scratch-off instant tickets.

John Demaria turned in a ticket Tuesday for a 2005 Harley Davidson 1200 Sportster motorcycle. Two years ago, he won a 2004 Cadillac Escalade.

Lottery spokeswoman Karen Russo said that, with more than 40 instant games to play, it's common for people to win more than once but Demaria was the first to hit on two vehicle giveaways.

Demaria took the $50,000 cash equivalent rather than the Cadillac and he plans to sell the $15,000 Harley because he thinks motorcycles are unsafe.