Tribal gaming leaders are optimistic Minnesota will see favorable policies toward Native American gaming, regardless of who holds the governorship next year.
Incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris’ selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate opens the possibility that the state could have a new leader after this year’s elections. Under state law, current Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan would become governor should Walz be elected vice president.
Under either governor, Minnesota tribal gaming will be in a strong position, state and national Native American leaders said.
Speaking during a webinar Wednesday, a panel of tribal policy advocates lauded Walz during his tenure as Minnesota’s governor. Tribal stakeholders believe Flanagan, a member of the state’s White Earth Band of Ojibwe tribe, would likely carry over similar policies.
Holly Cook Macarro, a long-time federal tribal policy advocate and political strategist, said in-person interactions reinforced the administration's commitment to Minnesota Native American communities.
“It was an historic partnership in the level of access the tribal leaders had to the administration,” said Macarro, a member of the Minnesota Red Lake Band of Ojibwe. “This may seem like window dressing, but we know how important it is for elected officials to visit our communities.”
Minnesota leaders back tribes
Walz was the first Minnesota governor to visit the reservations of all 11 federally recognized tribes in the state. Alongside Flanagan, the administration established the nation’s first Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relations Office.
Walz also appointed two members of the state racing commission that had deep ties to the state’s Native American gaming community. This angered some of the state’s other gaming entities but reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to Native communities, tribal stakeholders said.
The 11 tribes, each of which operates at least one casino in the state, have been in a long-standing conflict with Minnesota’s two horse tracks as well as its pull-tab proprietors over gaming offerings. The tribes have argued they have exclusive rights to most gaming forms, a sovereignty that has been threatened by new gaming forms such as versions of digital horse race betting.
The appointment of two tribal figures to the board regulating all non-tribal gaming reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to a Native American sports betting proposal, tribal leaders said. Sports betting legalization stalled in multiple legislative sessions over conflicting versions, one of which gave tribes exclusivity and a competing measure that expanded sports betting to other entities.
Should Harris win the presidency, Flanagan would be set to carry over a similar approach to Walz, said Victor Rocha, Conference Chair of the Indian Gaming Association. In an interview with Covers ahead of Wednesday’s webinar, Rocha said a favorable environment for tribes within and without gaming would continue in Minnesota.
“I would not expect a radical departure from Walz's positions,” Rocha said.
Minnesota sports betting fate still undetermined
The presidential campaign is just one component of a critical election season for tribal affairs, including sports betting legalization.
The state Senate will be determined by a one-seat special election to represent a district in the Twin City’s western suburbs. The winner will determine which party controls the upper chamber.
Like seemingly all other elections in Minnesota, this is expected to be a close race.
Minnesota's 2025 sports betting hopes will be shaped not just by Gov. Tim Walz and this year's presidential election but the state's down-ballot races; the lone Senate district race up for election will determine control of the chamber; all 134 House seats are also on the ballot
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) August 7, 2024
All 134 House districts are up for election this fall. The Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party, the state’s affiliate of the national Democratic party, holds a 70-64 lead that could easily be erased, especially if the national environment favors Republicans in what is expected to be a tight national race. Minnesota won’t hold gubernatorial elections until fall 2026.
Minnesota sports betting legalization efforts in each of the past few years have been led by a bipartisan coalition. Partisan divides outside the topic have stalled bills that seemed destined for passage.
The 2024 sports betting effort was a casualty of partisan politics in a chaotic end to the legislative session. Lawmakers squabbled over allowing DFL Sen. Nicole Mitchell to vote after she was charged with breaking into her stepmother’s property days before the legislative session was set to adjourn. Permitting votes from Mitchell, who was the deciding tally for the DFL on other priorities, led Republicans to try to stall legislative activity, including the sports betting bill.
Republican control of one or both chambers resets the conversation around sports betting once again.
GOP lawmakers may remain less inclined to back a tribal-only sports betting bill and more supportive of the measure that includes horse tracks and charitable groups. Republican Rep. Patrick Garofalo, one of the legislature’s leading sports betting proponents, will not seek re-election, taking away a leading advocate.
Maintaining the DFL legislative trifecta in the governor’s office and legislature could bolster the tribal-friendly sports betting bill, especially with either potential governor’s backing. But a subset of DFL lawmakers in the legislature have opposed sports betting in all forms, meaning bipartisan support will still likely be required regardless of the election outcome.
Minnesota joins California, Texas, Georgia and Missouri among the final states with three or more pro sports teams in the “Big Four” professional sports leagues that enter 2025 without a legal betting option. Missouri voters may be able to approve legal wagering on this year’s ballot.
