Gaming and Native American Law

Although tribal gaming is now a mature industry, opportunities for tribes and non-native partners remain. Drawing upon deep and varied experience in tribal gaming and related finance matters, we have represented:

• Tribal governments
• Gaming development and management companies
• Governors, states, and local governments
• Financial institutions

Pre-Development

We have experience in all pre-development aspects of developing tribal gaming enterprises including, assisting tribes and their partners in satisfying the prerequisites for a tribe to engage in Class II and Class III gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). In doing so, we have led due diligence and been involved with feasibility studies for dozens of proposed gaming projects, and succeeded in multiple jurisdictions.

Our pre-development work extends to assisting tribes in obtaining land in trust and, in the case of newly acquired lands, meeting IGRA’s exceptions allowing for gaming on land taken into trust after 1988.

When third parties are involved in tribal casino development, Dykema has negotiated development, consulting and management agreements, obtaining declination letters, and approvals of the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) where required.

Compacting and Government Negotiations

Our compacting and governmental negotiations experience includes:

• Negotiating compacts
• Managing approval through state legislative processes
• Advocating for approval by the U.S. Department of Interior
• Litigating challenges brought by opponents

Beyond initial compacts, our experience encompasses evaluating the interplay between existing compacts and new proposals, and navigating disputes that arise under compacts. In addition to work directly for tribes and their partners, Dykema has also advised local governments in implementing local revenue sharing and mitigation agreements, and state governments with regard to the impact of exclusivity clauses, and permissible arrangements for structuring tribal revenue sharing.

Financing

When it comes to funding tribal casino pre-development costs, construction, expansions, and renovations, our team has played critical roles in deals totaling more than $1 billion. In doing so, we have represented tribes, banks, and investors in negotiating deal terms, concluding transactional documents, providing opinion letters, and obtaining the NIGC’s de facto approval.

Among our accomplishments was serving as counsel for bondholders who were party to a precedent-setting first financial restructuring of a troubled tribal gaming facility.