The Seminole Tribe, owner of the Hard Rock chain with more than $1 billion a year in estimated revenue, remains under federal scrutiny by the National Indian Gaming Commission years after initial reports surfaced of lavish expenditures within the tribe.

Commission Chairman Philip Hogen characterized the current investigation as ''a continuing inquiry'' into the way the tribe uses its revenues. Under federal law, the tribe must spend its gambling revenues in broad areas that benefit the tribe as a whole. Non-gaming revenues are not federally regulated.

''This is an ongoing process,'' Hogen said Monday. ``Great progress has been made, but I don't know that we're there yet.''

The once-destitute tribe purchased the Hard Rock chain for $965 million this year. Earlier this month, it entered into an agreement with Gov. Charlie Crist to expand gambling operations at its seven casinos. In exchange, the Seminoles will pay the state a minimum of $100 million a year.

The federal Indian Gaming Commission, charged with overseeing tribal gambling operations, has been reviewing the Seminole Tribe's expenses after a 2004 audit revealed problem areas of spending. Since then, the tribe has complied with all the NIGC requirements, according to Seminole spokesman Gary Bitner.

''Since the NIGC audited the tribe in 2004 and spelled out the changes that needed to take place, the tribe has been very careful to comply with NIGC regulations and is in compliance,'' Bitner said.

A series of articles in The Sun-Sentinel newspaper has raised questions about tribal spending and whether some tribe leaders have especially benefited from the new wealth.

COMMISSION'S POWERS

State and local governments can't tell tribes how to spend their profits. But the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act does give the NIGC the power to shut down Indian casinos, or levy fines, if leaders don't prove the money is being spent as required.

Bitner said Monday that the tribe has spent its non-gambling revenues for discretionary purposes as allowed by federal regulations. In 2006, he said, the tribe generated $49.48 million in non-gaming revenue -- from moneymakers like cigarette sales, hotel room rentals, retail lease payments, citrus and cattle -- and spent $44.82 million for the so-called ``reservation allocations.''

He said the tribe also added staff, including Chief Financial Officer Jim Raker, to make sure the tribe's ballooning revenues were handled properly.

''We feel like we are in compliance and have paid very careful attention to implementing all the requirements,'' he said.

Some tribe members have criticized the discretionary spending by some leaders, which can come at the expense of rank-and-file members. Tribe member Andrew Bowers, who lives on the Brighton reservation and served on the tribal council for two years until he lost an election this year, said other members have raised the issue with him.

''The general feeling is that some people get more than the others,'' he said.

The pending federal inquiry will have no impact on the governor's decision to enter into a gambling compact with the tribe, said George LeMieux, Crist's chief of staff and his lead negotiator.

''The Seminole Tribe was not concerned how we would spend the money that we would receive and really didn't feel like it was their place and, by the same token, we didn't tell them how they should spend their money,'' he said. ``It's up to the federal government.''

During compact negotiations, the tribe gave the state a rare chance to review its gambling operation's financial records, LeMieux said. The state's experts concluded the tribe has ''a tremendously sophisticated and well-run organization,'' he said.

The question of how the tribe distributed its gambling profits to members ''was not an issue,'' he added.

Seminole General Counsel Jim Shore called the operation of the gambling business and the management of the tribe ``two different things.''

He said he hasn't concluded whether the commission's review will turn up anything significant.

''If these things are true, or close to true, the National Indian Gaming Commission will be the agency that comes in to deal with it,'' Shore said.

OUTSIDE MONITORS

He said the commission previously has brought in outside experts to make sure gambling proceeds were being spent in five federally permitted categories: tribal government operations; the general welfare of the tribe and its members; economic development; charitable organizations; or to help pay for the operations of local government agencies.

Shore said credibility and financial integrity are important to the tribe -- that's why it allowed the state to see its books.

''If you lose credibility in these situations, that's the worst thing,'' he said. ``So hopefully we were able to prove to the state that our credibility is up front and untarnished.''

Added Hogen about the tribe's old accounting methods: ``They were running their business out of a shoebox back in the days when they had no money. We told them they can't do it that way anymore.''

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