The impact of Native American gaming depends on the tribe and its location. In the 1970s, various tribes took unprecedented action to initiate gaming enterprises.[1] In this revitalization of the Native American economy, they created a series of legal struggles between the federal, state, and tribal governments. Gaming has stimulated tribal economies by providing jobs and generating revenue but has also been controversial through its threat to tribal sovereignty, disputes over the negative impact of gaming, and a loss of Native American culture.[2] The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed in 1988 to secure collaboration between the states and tribes and also for the federal government to oversee gaming operations.[3]
Gaming can be extremely successful because it stimulates the economy, increases tourism to reservations, reduces unemployment, raises incomes, and increases tribal independence while reducing dependence upon the United States welfare state. It has created more than 300,000 jobs in the United States.[4] Tribes in only 30 states are eligible to operate gaming enterprises because 16 states have no federally recognized tribes, and five states (Massachusetts, Texas, Missouri, Rhode Island, and Utah) prohibit Native American gaming.[5] 224 of the 550 tribes in 28 states operate the 350 Native American gaming enterprises nationwide,[6] and 68% of Native Americans belong to a tribe with gaming operations.[1]
These enterprises earned $4.5 billion in 1995, and the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development reported $19.4 billion in 2005. This accounts for 25.8% of the US's $75 billion gaming revenue.[1] Tribal gaming provides 400,000 jobs, and the profits often go toward programs that create jobs.[6] For example, 75% of the profit generated by Cherokee Nation Enterprises in 2005 was given to the Jobs Growth Fund, which expands businesses within the Cherokee Nation to create more jobs.[7]
Revenues, by law, must go toward improving reservation communities. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act requires that revenues go toward tribal government operations, promotion of the welfare of the tribe and its citizens, economic development, support of charitable organizations, and compensation to local non-Native governments for support of services provided by those governments.[1] Tribes have boosted their socioeconomic status in the past several years by improving their infrastructure, but due to the lack of federal and state funding, have only been able to do so as a result of gaming enterprises. For instance, tribes often build casino-related facilities that draw visitors such as hotels, conference centers, entertainment venues, golf courses, and RV parks.
Once a reservation has established a strong economic foundation, it can draw in businesses that are unrelated to gaming. A common trend is that casinos stimulate the economy, and other business sustain it. For instance, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians built in a water-bottling plant on the reservation, and along with three other tribes, invested in a hotel in Washington, DC. The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska is involved in a number of businesses including Internet media, home manufacturing, used cars, and gas stations. The Morongo Band of Mission Indians, a small band in California, has opened a Shell station, A&W drive-in, Coco's Restaurant, a water-bottling plant, and a fruit orchard operation. In addition to involvement in private corporations, Native nations have enough sustainability to bolster government programs. Some of these projects include law enforcement, fire fighters, schools, translators for emergency response, college scholarships, assistance with mortgage down payments, protection for endangered species, monitoring for water quality, care for elders, police cars, foster-care improvements, and health clinics.[1]
Some tribes distribute funds on a per capita basis to directly benefit citizens.[8] Because these have sometimes shown negative impact such as a dependence on tribal government, low attendance in school, and an unwillingness to work, some tribes have experimented with decreasing per capita payments as punishment. For example, the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation Tribal Council deducted at least $100 from families' payments if children have low school attendance, yielding a 30% increase in graduation in three years. The Las Vegas Paiute Nation deducted funding for jail provision from the offenders' payments because the Nation does not have a jail and must rent it from other governments. Punishments such as these provide an incentive for morality through a direct link to financial assistance from the payments.[1]
States also benefit from Native American gaming enterprises. States cannot tax reservations, but they can, under IGRA, negotiate a compact and demand compact payments. Tribes usually pay near or less than 10% of profit to states. The state of Michigan earned an estimated $325 million from tribes spanning from 1993-2003.[1]
Laws require a tribe to agree to a state compact upon request, but the IGRA says nothing about local governments. However, many tribes do negotiate with local governments. They place a strain on traffic and emergency services, and a tribe not uncommonly tries to compensate for that. Native Americans pay $50 million annually to local governments across the nation. In addition, non-Natives hold 75% of the 300,000 jobs that belong to Native American gaming.[4]
With gaming profits, the Creek Nation of Oklahoma has built its own hospital staffed by Native American doctors and nurses.[5] Other tribes establish health clinics, dialysis centers, and fitness centers to deal with the problem of Native American disease and epidemics. Many tribes work toward securing hope for the future by improving schools. The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe built two schools that teach fluency in English as well as Ojibwe language.[4]
Failure
Other than gaming, most of the many past attempts to revitalize Native American economies have failed. Two of the more successful ventures include selling gasoline and cigarettes for a much lower price because there is no state tax. Less effective Seminole Nation efforts include cattle raising, craft selling, and alligator wrestling. Cattle operations led to government dependency and debt, and benefit mostly the individual.[2]
If a Native American casino is unsuccessful, its failure is often linked to its geographic location. The size of a tribe is usually insignificant. This argument follows the logic of a free market economy. Tribes with a strong economic base find it easier to draw in new businesses and consumers. Tribes in remote locations suffer because they lack a consumer base to support new and existing businesses.[4] For example, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians is very small, but its gaming enterprises are overwhelmingly successful. In contrast, the Sioux Nation, a very large nation with thousands of members and approximately 12 gambling halls, is unable to benefit from gaming enterprises because it is too isolated from potential customers. Another example is that four tribes in San Diego County had ambitious plans for a $100 million-plus resort and convention center but preemptively scaled back this idea because of the inconvenient location. Far away from other civilization and in close proximity to each other, the tribes concluded their chances of an overwhelming success were slim.[5]
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the second largest reservation in the United States, suffers from extreme poverty. It is the poorest county in the United States and has attempted to revitalize its economy through the gambling industry. However, these attempts have failed. Its casino created a mere 80 jobs,[4] but this figure is insignificant because the unemployment rate on the reservation is up to 95%. The reservation has higher unemployment, diabetes, infant mortality, teen suicide, dropout, and alcoholism rates than the entire US. Many homes are dilapidated, overcrowded, and without water, plumbing, and electricity. Pine Ridge's failed attempts are predictable considering the closest major city, Denver, Colorado, is 350 miles away.[9]
Impact on native cultures
With Native American gaming has come the image of a "rich Indian". This depiction contrasts other images of Native Americans portrayed as savage, pure, connected to nature, and spiritual. The reality that some Native Americans are powerful entrepreneurs contradicts the notion of what a Native American is "supposed to be". "Rich Indian" propaganda even circulated in response to Proposition 5 in California in 1998[5] that perpetuated the stereotype that "the only good Indian is a poor Indian".[10]
Eve Darian-Smith and others have asserted that the effect of gaming on Indian culture in general is a loss of a cultural myth. According to Ronald Wright, these ideas are based on stereotypes and are "construed by the dominant society in an effort to control and justify the enduring inequalities and injustices that permeate our legal system and social landscape".[5] One perspective is that Native American gaming is not so much damaging Native culture as it is merely changing a cultural myth, the way the general population perceives Native Americans. Additionally, Native American gaming can be viewed as a means to rejuvenate and preserve tribal culture. For instance, many tribes use revenues generated from gaming toward museums and cultural centers. Tribes are able to fund themselves independently and can also afford to preserve their individual histories.[5]
Controversy
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There is some controversy of Native American gaming because it is argued that it contributes to a moral decay. Gambling, it is argued, promotes crime and pathological behavior.[5]Gambling addictions as well as substance use are sometimes associated with gaming. In 1962, the total estimated sums in the United States totaled $2 billion. This figure jumped to $18 billion in 1976, to $80 billion in 1985, and to $400 billion in 1993. In 2000, the total estimated sums wagered in the United States was $866 billion. In 2000, the commercial take was 10%, so the gaming industry earned approximately $70 billion, even accounting for the fact that gamblers win some money back. That is more than three times the $22 billion in total revenues generated by all other forms of entertainment combined: tickets to movies, plays, concerts, performances, and sports events. Moreover, Native American gaming contributes to only a fraction of gambling in the United States. Native American casinos bring in only 17% of gambling revenue, while non-Native casinos raise 43%.[5]
In late 2002, TIME magazine printed a special report entitled "Indian Casinos: Wheel of Misfortune" that infuriated Native Americans nationwide. Ernie Stevens, Jr., Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association, wrote a letter to the editor of TIME in response to the report.[4]
Native American gaming comprises casinos, bingo halls, slots halls and other gambling operations on Indian reservations or other tribal lands in the United States. Because these areas have tribal sovereignty, states have limited ability to forbid gambling there, as codified by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. As of 2011, there were 460 gambling operations run by 240 tribes, with a total annual revenue of $27 billion.
The Puyallup, spuyaləpabš or S’Puyalupubsh are a federally recognized Coast Salish Native American tribe from western Washington state, United States. They were relocated onto reservation lands in what is today Tacoma, Washington, in late 1854, after signing the Treaty of Medicine Creek with the United States. Today they have an enrolled population of 6,700, of whom 3,000 live on the reservation.
The Catawba, also known as Issa, Essa or Iswä but most commonly Iswa, are a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans, known as the Catawba Indian Nation. Their current lands are in South Carolina, on the Catawba River, near the city of Rock Hill. Their territory once extended into North Carolina, as well, and they still have legal claim to some parcels of land in that state. They were once considered one of the most powerful Southeastern tribes in the Carolina Piedmont, as well as one of the most powerful tribes in the South as a whole, with other, smaller tribes merging into the Catawba as their post-contact numbers dwindled due to the effects of colonization on the region.
The Cahuilla, also known as ʔívil̃uqaletem or Ivilyuqaletem, are a Native American people of the various tribes of the Cahuilla Nation, living in the inland areas of southern California. Their original territory included an area of about 2,400 square miles (6,200 km2). The traditional Cahuilla territory was near the geographic center of Southern California. It was bounded to the north by the San Bernardino Mountains, to the south by Borrego Springs and the Chocolate Mountains, to the east by the Colorado Desert, and to the west by the San Jacinto Plain and the eastern slopes of the Palomar Mountains.
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The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians of the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation is a federally recognized tribe of the Cahuilla, located in Riverside County, California, United States. The Cahuilla inhabited the Coachella Valley desert and surrounding mountains between 5000 BCE and 500 CE. With the establishment of the reservations, the Cahuilla were officially divided into 10 sovereign nations, including the Agua Caliente Band.
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The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act is a 1988 United States federal law that establishes the jurisdictional framework that governs Indian gaming. There was no federal gaming structure before this act. The stated purposes of the act include providing a legislative basis for the operation/regulation of Indian gaming, protecting gaming as a means of generating revenue for the tribes, encouraging economic development of these tribes, and protecting the enterprises from negative influences. The law established the National Indian Gaming Commission and gave it a regulatory mandate. The law also delegated new authority to the U.S. Department of the Interior and created new federal offenses, giving the U.S. Department of Justice authority to prosecute them.
In the United States, gambling is subject to a variety of legal restrictions. In 2008, gambling activities generated gross revenues of $92.27 billion in the United States.
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The Oneida Nation is a federally recognized tribe of Oneida people in Wisconsin. The tribe's reservation spans parts of two counties west of the Green Bay metropolitan area. The reservation was established by treaty in 1838, and was allotted to individual New York Oneida tribal members as part of an agreement with the U.S. government. The land was individually owned until the tribe was formed under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.
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The Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation is a federally recognized tribe of Serrano people in San Bernardino County, California.
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References
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Harvard. The State of the Native Nations. New York: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.
1 2 Cattelino, Jessica R. High Stakes: Florida Seminole Gaming and Sovereignty. Durham: Duke UP, 2008. Print.
↑ Harvard. The State of the Native Nations. New York: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.5
↑ Pasquaretta, Paul. Gambling and Survival in Native North America. Tucson: The University of Arizona, 2003. Print.
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