The Massachusetts Legislature has until July 31 to ratify a Class III gaming compact for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.
The tribe signed the compact with Gov. Deval Patrick (D). The 15-year deal includes a high revenue sharing rate -- 21.5 percent of gross gaming revenues. Once lawmakers approve the compact, it will be sent to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The agency is also considering the tribe's land-into-trust application, a significant hurdle in the process. "I'm going to be working with the tribe to get prompt resolution in the Department of Interior and the [BIA] on both the compact and the land in trust," Patrick said at a press conference, The Cape Cod Times reported. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission plans to give the tribe sufficient time to complete the process although a deadline hasn't been set. “Getting the land into trust could go quickly or it could take forever,” Stephen Crosby, the panel's chairman, said at a public meeting, The Boston Globe reported. The main obstacle is the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar. The ruling restricts the land-into-trust process to tribes that were "under federal jurisdiction" as of 1934 but the Mashpees didn't gain recognition until May 2007. Get the Story: