Class III gaming on the Flathead Reservation in Montana came to a halt at midnight Thursday after the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) failed to sign a new compact.

Without an agreement in place, Indian and non-Indian operators had to shut off their Class III machines. Lori Peterson Grenier, a tribal member who laid off two of her five employees, blamed tribal and state officials for the impasse.

"One of my biggest gripes is that the governor never sat down until it was too late," Grenier tells The Missoulian. "It's like they never had any intention of negotiating," she says of tribal leaders who rejected a five-month extension last week.

The tribe wanted more regulatory control over Class III facilities, whether operated by Indians or non-Indians. Schweitzer said he couldn't grant that authority without a change in state law.

The National Indian Gaming Commission has interpreted the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act to grant tribes jurisdiction over all gaming activities within the boundaries of a reservation.

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Gaming machines go silent (The Missoulian 12/2)