Premier offers cut of gaming revenue if chiefs abandon casino plans

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/09/2024 (400 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SIOUX VALLEY DAKOTA NATION — The Manitoba government has offered a cut of provincial gaming revenue to several Dakota First Nations on the condition that they do not develop casinos of their own, the Sun has learned.

In a series of interviews the Sun conducted with chiefs of the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, Dakota Tipi First Nation and Canupawakpa Dakota Nation, the chiefs said they met with Premier Wab Kinew in Winnipeg on Aug. 21. At the meeting, they said Kinew pitched them a revenue-sharing agreement and asked them not to build casinos in return.

“He offered a percentage of all the gaming revenues,” said Dakota Tipi First Nation Chief Dennis Pashe. “It’s negotiable, so we have to get into the negotiation details. It was just his initial offer.”

“He was trying to offer us a … revenue share,” said Canupawakpa Dakota Nation Chief Raymond Brown.

The chiefs say the meeting was a preliminary discussion.

Brown and Sioux Valley Dakota Nation Chief Vince Tacan earlier this year signed an agreement with Chief Don Smoke of the Dakota Plains First Nation to build a casino in western Manitoba on land owned by Sioux Valley. The agreement came months after Kinew said he was open to considering more First Nation-run casinos and the government instructed the Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries board to lift a pause on gaming expansion.

At the Aug. 21 meeting, the premier said he wasn’t interested in seeing more casinos developed, the chiefs told the Sun.

“We got to the meeting,” Tacan said in a boardroom of the community government office at Sioux Valley, “and basically the premier took over the meeting and said, ‘Yeah, thanks for coming. And I made a decision, and no casinos for anyone, no new casinos.’

“Right off the hop he says he’s not allowing (any) more casinos in Manitoba,” said Brown. “He’s not going to allow us to build a casino and run a casino.”

Instead, they said the premier proposed a revenue-sharing agreement as a way to follow through with Kinew’s goal of economic reconciliation with First Nations.

Tacan and Brown said the premier explained his concerns about adding more casinos were based on the associated negative effects, such as addiction.

The premier’s office did not respond to questions about the meeting but sent an emailed statement from a spokesperson.

“Our government continues to engage with First Nation partners including supporting economic reconciliation and local economic development,” the statement said.

Brandon East MLA Glen Simard, the minister responsible for Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries, did not comment either on the chiefs’ claims. He told the Sun conversations that take place behind closed doors should remain behind closed doors.

“That’s where that process should stay,” he said.

Casinos, lottery, online gaming and video lotto made up a combined $390,556,000 in income for the province last year, according to the annual report for Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries. That income “contributes to the general revenue of the Province of Manitoba … Programs and services like healthcare, education, social services, housing, and infrastructure are funded through the Province of Manitoba’s general revenue,” the corporation wrote in its action plan for 2023-26.

Tacan said he was unimpressed with Kinew’s pitch. He said the revenue-sharing deal would further stereotypes that First Nations receive money without working for it. He said he’d rather venture to build a casino or grow a gaming centre that gives people jobs and control over their future and income.

“I made it known that I didn’t agree with it. I said that the perception is our people get money for nothing — right? — and that we like to stay home and do nothing and get money. I said, ‘We want to work.’ I said, ‘What it sounds like is, you’re paying us to stay home and do nothing, right?’”

Pashe, however, said he would be content to sign away casinos if the revenue-sharing terms were agreeable.

“I think it’s OK to accept it. (Casinos are) kind of a diluted market,” said Pashe. “You look around at all the casinos surrounding us.” There’s competition, he said, and it could be “a 20-year losing money proposition,” along with the possibility of facing legal battles with the province.

“We don’t really have to put up any capital — (we) get a revenue-sharing agreement and take it to the bank with a whole lot less headache.”

He said it would be an acceptable form of economic reconciliation.

Regarding the amount of gaming revenue that the First Nations would receive under an agreement, Tacan said there were no documents or paper provided, but said the initial pitch was in the hundreds of thousands each year.

“It was to be $2 million split between five communities, which was like $400,000 each,” he told the Sun. “So what the hell can you do with $400,000? You can’t even build a decent house with $400,000.”

Pashe said he expects a follow-up meeting will happen before winter, perhaps as early as October. He told the Sun he has not heard back from the province since the meeting.

» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com, with files from Matt Goerzen

» X: @ConnorsCupful