The Madawaska First Nation has been handed a significant victory by the New Brunswick Court of Appeal regarding revenue-sharing. The Canadian court ruled that the Tribe was entitled to 95% of profits from the Grey Rock Casino on its reservation.
Prior to this, the New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation stated it had no legal obligation to share any revenue with the Tribe. The Lottery insisted that it was essentially a ‘policy decision, involving various social and economic factors,' that could be formed at its discretion.
However, a January 12 ruling, written by Justice Raymond French, rejected the Lottery’s claim. This ruling was signed off by two other justices who heard the case, Ernest Drapeau and Charles LeBlond.
The court’s statement read: “The Gaming Commission does not have the residual discretion it claims and Madawaska ought to be paid its share of the net profit for the video gaming devices at the casino.”
The statement also iterated: “We could not identify what the social and economic factors would include if it were a discretionary decision.”
The New Brunswick Court further backed the Tribe on the issue of ‘video gaming devices,’ as provincial legislation referred only to Atlantic Lottery Corporation machines that used to be at the casino – not the machines owned by the casino.
French said the plain meaning of the phrase ‘video gaming devices’ encompassed the gambling machines now at the Grey Rock Casino. This ruling upholds a Court of King's Bench decision last year that found the band met all legal requirements necessary to be covered by the state’s revenue-sharing provisions.
A lawyer representing Madawaska’s case commented: “We said, and courts at both levels accepted, that that meant New Brunswick was required to share its gaming profits from the Grey Rock Casino with Madawaska. So in our view, it is very straightforward.”
