Thursday, June 22, 2006

As reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Wisconsin's $1.2 billion in
2005 tribal gambling receipts ranked it ninth among 23 states with Indian
casinos, while the nearly $71 million that Wisconsin collected last year in
casino revenue-sharing payments from tribes ranked fourth among those
states, according to a report released today. "The payments from Wisconsin
tribes were definitely at the higher end of (casino) revenue sharing,
compared with other states,' said Alan Meister, a California-based economist
who wrote the report. Only Connecticut, California and New York, whose
casinos draw from much larger populations, collected more than Wisconsin,
Meister found. ".The new study findings were cited as evidence by Democratic
Gov. Jim Doyle's administration that the payments Doyle negotiated with
Wisconsin's 11 tribes in 2003 were favorable both to the state and the
tribes.

"If a $30 million late payment the Ho-Chunk tribe made last month for 2005
is added to the tally, Wisconsin's ranking moves to third, behind only
Connecticut, at $421 million in 2005 payments, and California, with $252.9
million, said Sean Dilweg, executive assistant for the state Department of
Administration."