Here's what I've been able to put together from various sources over the last day. Its all from INB nr's and newspaper articles. Not sure if the Table Mountain info is the T.M. mentioned in the INB nr's..
* While INB is looking towards S.America. and Asia for opportunities, they still have significant interests in native gaming in California, Especially with the Table Mountain tribe which signed into the Calif. pact and with which INB has a rev. sharing agreement. INB has indicated in previous statements that they are in negotiations with at least 3 other tribes in California.
* There is a possibility of a merger with Imperial Gaming which has a presence in Colorado native gaming.
Table Mountain: Apparently Table Mountain is in the process of dumping a 'Casino Consultant' that managed their casinos. This is generating a 4M$ lawsuit against the tribe. (Scooped from newspaper article)
Table Mountain Rancheria does not need a consultant to operate the tribe's Table Mountain Casino near Millerton Lake, a new lawyer for the rancheria said Friday. Majel Russell of the Elks River Law Office in Billings, Mont., said the casino, which grossed nearly $32 million in 1997-98, has not had any problems since it began operating without a consultant May 7 - the day a new tribal leadership took over. Russell said it was the consensus of everyone involved in the operation "that a consultant is not necessary for the successful operation of the casino" and that there are no plans to hire one. Russell was responding to a lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Fresno against Table Mountain Rancheria by a Las Vegas consulting firm that, until last month, helped run the casino. American Vantage Companies Inc., which is seeking more than $4 million, contends that the rancheria last month abruptly ended a $350,000-a-month contract - which was drawn up in February 1996 and reportedly was scheduled to run until June 30, 2000. Russell said Thursday that she had not seen a copy of the lawsuit but confirmed that Table Mountain no longer was doing business with American Vantage. Russell called the contract, which reportedly earned American Vantage a total of about $9 million a year in 1996, 1997 and 1998, "unconscionable." Russell said she was limited to what she could say because of the pending court action, but that she was confident the tribe's decision to break its ties with American Vantage would withstand any legal challenge. She noted that the National Indian Gaming Commission has been conducting an investigation for months into the casino's finances, including the contract with American Vantage, and that she has little doubt the commission's findings will support the tribe's decision to drop the consultant contract. In February, E. Robert Wright, an assistant U.S. attorney, reported that an audit by the National Gaming Commission revealed some apparent irregularities in the tribe's casino finances.
--------------
Colorado gaming: (Scooped from newspaper article) Late last week the Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission approved a revised tax structure and the elimination of the annual fee paid for each slot machine and table game. The commission, a five-member body appointed by the governor, is required by law to establish the tax rates annually. According to projections from the Colorado Department of Revenue, casinos will pay $77 million in taxes on $607.4 million in adjusted gross proceeds, the casinos' revenues minus their jackpot payouts, during the next fiscal year, July 1999 through June 2000. Casinos would have paid nearly $91.1 million in gaming tax revenues if the tax rate had remained the same. The loss of device fee revenues will mean about $1.2 million fewer dollars to the state. The tax reduction will be effective July 1'99.
|