Tribes refuse to make gaming payment

Todd Richmond

Friday, July 1, 2005 | 9:57 a.m.

MADISON, Wis. -- The Forest County Potawatomi didn't pay the $43.6 million the tribe owed the state for the right to offer gambling by Thursday, leaving officials more than $100 million short of what they expected to generate through gaming compacts in the 2003-05 budget. The governor's office said the state still ended the budget in the black, however.

The Ho-Chunk Nation already had decided to withhold $60 million it owed the state over the past two years. The two tribes' decisions illustrate the impact of last year's state Supreme Court decision that struck down sections of the Potawatomi's compact allowing Las Vegas-style games.

Gov. Jim Doyle reached similar deals with the Ho-Chunk and the state's other tribes that offer gambling. The state and tribes have been trying to broker new compacts in the wake of the ruling.

Compacts are deals the state makes with 11 American Indian tribes in Wisconsin that allow them to offer gambling in exchange for million-dollar payments.

The latest round of payments were due Thursday, the last day of the state's fiscal year and the 2003-05 budget. Nine tribes have agreed to make their payments, said Sean Dilweg, executive assistant for the state Department of Administration.

The Potawatomi paid the state $40.5 million last year as a gesture of good faith. But Potawatomi Attorney General Jeff Crawford said the tribe won't make its payment this year until it gets a new compact.

"The Potawatomi will pay. It is only a question of time," Crawford said in a written statement. "The Potawatomi are committed to Wisconsin and its taxpayers."

The Ho-Chunk and the Potawatomi left the state about $103.6 million short in gaming revenue for the 2003-05 state budget. Doyle's office insisted the state would still finish the fiscal year with a $6 million balance.

"If we'd had that (the Potawatomi and Ho-Chunk payments) we would have had a higher ending balance," Administration spokesman Scott Larrivee said. "We'll get the money. We'll get it in the next fiscal year."

The Ho-Chunk Nation signed a similar deal with the state for expanded games. After the Supreme Court ruling, the tribe pulled its new games and withheld the money it owed the state.