Could the federal government have to invade Miccosukee Tribe of Florida land in order to shut down the band’s casino? That’s one possible scenario (placing a lien on 
gaming revenues is another) if the tribe continues to defy the Internal Revenue Service, as seems likely. While the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, casino revenues are taxable. In case you’re wondering, Florida‘s Seminole Tribe pays them. Heck, the Miccosukee Tribe doesn’t even have a compact with the Sunshine State. However, its annual slot revenues could be as high as $106 million. Writes Miami Herald columnist Nick Sortal, “Among the spending priorities in IGRA are funding tribal government programs and the general welfare of the tribe — taking care of everyone. If those needs are met, a tribe can then distribute annual payments to tribal members. But the tribe must have a Revenue Allocation Plan, which is approved by the Secretary of the Interior. Guess which tribe refuses to do that?” This cannot be what Sen. John McCain (R) had in mind when he fathered IGRA, all those years ago.
One tribal leader, the short-tenured Colley Billie, began to impose withholding taxes on Miccosukees’ casino-revenue distributions he was impeached and replaced with predecessor. That the latter had been kicked out of office for allegedly embezzling $26 million from the casino mattered not. At this point, there seems to be no chance of averting a government/tribe collision. The only suspense lies in seeing what form it will take.
* “Pay the correct taxes. Gamble until you die. I really do not care” is Philippines despot Rodrigo Duterte‘s latest in a series of rapidly evolving — sometimes contradictory — stances on gambling. His zeal to extirpate Internet gambling and betting shops could cost the country dearly … as much as $215 million in annual tax revenues. Duterte now attributes his resolve to crack down on online wagering to a passing fit of pique. (Perhaps he read a tweet he didn’t like.) “I was mad because even the youth are gambling and there was no way of collecting the proper taxes,” is Duterte’s new excuse and his explanation is that gambling is OK so long as it isn’t conducted near schools or churches. (A similar, albeit more systematic scenario is playing out in China.)
Duterte’s mood is unlikely to be improved by the news that casinos are exempt from Philippines corporate income tax (30%). He’s also proposed rolling state-owned casino operator/regulator Pagcor into a bundle with the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. Amidst all this yes-no-maybe, Pagcor is managing to go about its planned sell-off of its casino holdings in an orderly fashion. Among the ideas on the table are monthly fees of $10,000 a table game and $100 per slot machine. However, Pagcor currently plans to issue licenses in the form of six-month tryouts. It will be interesting to see if anybody bites at that meager bait.
* Speaking of mixed signals, Caesars Entertainment got a confusing one from federal Judge Robert W. Gettleman. In the course of staying litigation against the casino giant until Oct. 5, Gettleman said Judge Benjamin Goldgar ruled in error when he lifted his own injunction against Caesars’ hot-and-bothered creditors. However, Gettleman stated it would be “uphill” for Caesars to prove it deserves more than a month of injunctive relief at this point. Perplexing, no? The bottom line is that Caesars has been handed four more weeks to get dissident investors like Appaloosa Management to sing “Kumbaya” and that really is an uphill fight.
* Could Alaska be S&G‘s new frontier? Gov. Bill Walker‘s opposition to land-into-trust applications has been withdrawn and tribes are already lining up to make a case for casino gambling. In fact, the state capital, Juneau, is reported to be at the top of their wish list.
* Not being good at arcade or video games, it’s hard for me to get into eSports. However, it’s already been beneficial to the casino industry: Mandalay Bay and the Downtown Grand have hosted eSports tournaments to lucrative effect and it’s clearly the coming thing. Once casinos get their arms around DFS and how to profit from it, they’ll have to turn their attention to eSports. It’s been classified as out-and-out sports betting in the United Kingdom, but so far no such barriers have fallen in our country.
* Speaking of DFS, DraftKings caught a second wind from the private equity markets, receiving $153 million in venture capital from Revolution Growth, an aptly named firm in this case. The firm was founded by Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonis, making the ties between DFS and the major sporting leagues and DFS tighter than ever. Why doth sports betting never prosper? For if it prosper, none dare call it sports betting. Or, as Rep. Frank Pallone said, “I must also mention the hypocrisy of those arguing that daily fantasy sports is readily distinguishable from traditional sports betting, while quietly applying for and receiving gambling licenses in the United Kingdom, DFS operators continue to argue to interested states in the U.S. that — unlike sports betting — DFS is not gambling.” If that didn’t get his point across, Pallone added that the Department of Justice has ruled that sports betting is a “game of skill” … just like DFS (unless you had Tony Romo in your pre-season football lineup, that is).
