Fans cheer while watching a college basketball tournament game in the sports book at The Mirage in Las Vegas in this 2014 photo. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey wants the state Legislature to allow sports betting here. /John Locher / Las Vegas Review-Journal 2014
By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services
Plans by Gov. Doug Ducey to allow statewide sports wagering, betting on fantasy leagues, keno and more tribal gambling could be undermined by a Pinal County lawmaker.
Rep. Mark Finchem, R-Oro Valley, contends that the governor lacks the authority to negotiate new gaming compacts with the tribes. Instead, he said that formulating gaming police is “a quintessential legislative function.’’
But Finchem is doing more than just expressing his personal opinion.
He is asking Attorney General Mark Brnovich to review his legal arguments and issue a formal legal opinion declaring the issue of expanded tribal gaming beyond Ducey’s reach.
Strictly speaking, a finding by Brnovich against the governor’s powers would not halt legislative proposals to create new kinds of off-reservation gaming. Everyone, including Ducey, concedes he needs approval of state lawmakers to declare wagering on professional and college sports to be legal in Arizona.
But the existing gaming compacts give the tribes veto power over any expanded off-reservation gambling. It is only because the deal Ducey has negotiated gives them some additional gambling opportunities that they are willing to approve an enlargement of what happens beyond tribal borders.
