STATE-TRIBAL MEDIATION
OKLAHOMA CITY — With courthouses closing across Oklahoma due to the spread of the coronavirus, COVID-19, a federal judge is allowing more time for gaming compact talks between Oklahoma’s tribes and its governor.
On Tuesday, Judge Timothy DeGuisti issued an order extending mediation between Gov. Kevin Stitt and a dozen Oklahoma gaming tribes through May 31. He originally set a deadline of March 31, with a status conference later scheduled for April 4. After a pre-trial hearing on Feb. 10, Judge DeGuisti ordered Gov. Stitt and the tribes to pursue mediation in dueling lawsuits over the status of the model state-tribal gaming compact.
Under the terms of Judge DeGuisti’s order, neither Gov. Stitt nor any of the involved tribes is allowed to publicly discuss the mediation process without going through the court first. At the time of the extension order, several of the involved tribes had already closed their casinos in an attempt to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, including the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek) and the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes.
After the order came down, three additional tribes involved in the lawsuit closed their casinos as well: the Comanche Nation, Delaware Nation and the Quapaw Tribe in far northeastern Oklahoma. As of Thursday morning, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Otoe-Missouria Tribe and Seminole Nation are among the handful of tribes statewide that have not closed their gaming facilities, but have taken additional preventative measures, such as adding more hand sanitizer machines around the gaming floor and closing buffet lines.
Construction remains underway for the lone casino for the 12th tribe involved, the White Eagle-based Ponca Tribe. Two other area gaming tribes that are not party to the lawsuit have also closed their properties. The Fort Sill Apache Tribe’s Lawton hotel and casino announced Wednesday that it would temporarily close effective 11:59 p.m. Thursday until March 31. The tribe’s convenience stores in Lawton and Anadarko will remain open, though.
Like the Fort Sill Apaches, the Kiowa Tribe’s three casinos closed at 11:59 p.m. Thursday. They are tentatively scheduled to reopen at noon on April 1. As of Thursday morning, the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma’s Golden Eagle Casino in Apache remains open, but has shuttered its southern doors and limited its capacity to a maximum of 50 guests at a time.