Indian Gaming Law - Research Paper Example

INDIAN GAMING Introduction This research report provides an overview and importance of Indian gaming law for the welfare of Native Americans’ tribes. A general research is made on an Indian tribe “Golden Hill”. The first part of this report includes the summary of the social context of Golden Hill”. For better understanding about the Indian gaming some general information is also discussed to know the importance of these games to Indian tribes. At the Second part of this report some factors that can influence the gaming styles in any tribe are discussed. This part also includes the gaming style and rules of “Golden Hill” and stated the factor that directly effected on this tribe in relation with Indian gaming. At third part of this report a brief legal history of Indian gaming and the reasons to create regulatory bodies and acts for Indian gaming has been discussed. These regulatory bodies consist of some famous Indian rules making bodies like Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), Indian Gaming commission. Finally the last part of this report contains on a conclusion about the whole topic and recommendations that can help to make better future legal policy. THE GOLDEN HILL, Social Context The golden hill tribe is located at the neighborhood of San Diego, California. Golden Hill is a historical place which has a lot of architectural homes and apartments. Golden Hill is also known as the place of food and music. Some people refer the Golden Hills to a Big Kitchen restaurant. Some of famous Key places of Golden Hills include Whistle Stop Bar, Black Box Recording Studios. Most of the people of Golden Hills have music fever and due to this reason two major musical and traditional events are organized in golden hill in a year. One of the concert named as “The Golden Hill Block Party” happens the last Saturday prior to Halloween. A second is the “Kate sessions Fest”, which made its debut in Golden Hill Park. Both of these events are organized by local artists, musicians and local musical bands. Golden Hill is also known as the center of women’s History Museum, which are also referred as educational center. Due to this reason mostly the women of Golden hill are attached with the field of architecture. A brief introduction of Indian gaming The term “Indian Gaming” refers to the Gambling that is in variety of different forms. Indian gaming has long been a necessary part of Indian culture and tradition. The term “Indian Gaming” refers to different games like "stick game", “Horse and foot races”. Those games are still played at tribal gatherings. In recent times Indians of Golden Hill’s tribe had generated revenue by the way of gaming. At the early 1980s most of the people and organizations thought about the welfare of Indian tribes by generating revenue from Indian games. The main reason at that time is games like gambling was most common in Native Americans. It is not amazing that in the 1980's some tribes turned to gaming as a business enterprise. The results of this many of the organizations are formed in 1980s for the welfare of Native Americans. They main purposes of these organizations are to work for the welfare of Native Americans where unemployment level was almost 70%, through generating revenue through Indian gaming. The National Indian Gaming Association, is one of these organizations that are formed in 1985, National Indian Gaming association is a non-profit organization of 184 Indian Nations including Golden Hill. The purpose of NIGA is to work for the welfare and advance the lives of Indians economically, socially and politically. National Indian Gaming association follow the educational, legislative and public policy resource for tribes, and control all the issues related to gaming. Laws and policy for Indian Gaming Now a days tribal gaming is regulated by government of tribes, Congress, the Interior Department, and the National Indian Gaming Commission, and as well as the own system of tribes. Many other federal agencies enforce the laws those affects the Indian gaming. These departments include U.S Department of justice, and FBI. The most important law for gaming is Indian gaming regulatory act. Some of details are described below. There was no federal gaming structure and regulations before this Indian gaming regulatory act. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act is a federal law and was enacted by Congress in 1988. It establishes the jurisdictional framework and provides the regulations for gaming in Indian tribes. The law established the National Indian Gaming Commission and gave it a regulatory mandate. The law also delegated the authorities to other departments those are mentioned above. Like others Indian tribes, Indian games in Golden Hill are regulated under the Indian Gaming regulatory act. According to Indian gaming regulatory act the revenue generated by the Indian games in golden hill can only use for the welfare of tribe. According to a rough estimate 75% people of golden hill devote their revenues to government services, charitable organizations, contributions to local governments, and for the economic development of golden hill. In addition a part of the revenue is used to fund the operations of local agencies those are providing services to “Golden Hill”. Effect of rules and regulation on the gaming of golden hill There are number of regulatory bodies and rules that control the workings of Indian games in any tribe. The games in “Golden Hill” are also regulated by these bodies. Some of the workings of these regulatory bodies are describes below. Indian gaming regulatory act The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act is an act of Congress that set the rules for the gaming conducted. It covers the field of Indian gaming by setting that, what types of games can be conducted, where, and how and by whom. As other tribes Indian gaming regulatory act also set the rules and regulations for the games of golden hill. To control the discipline and workings of Indian games, Indian gaming regulatory act classified all the games to three classes. Under this act each class have their own regulatory scheme. A summary of the games in each class is described below Class I include all traditional Indian gaming includes social gaming those are played for the minimal prizes. Some of Special Indian games require license and permission form the regulatory bodies but there is no need for license to conduct the games of Class I. Class II includes the games like bingo, table games. This class includes all the games that are related to computer and new modern technology. To conduct these games tribes must get the license and permissions from the regulatory bodies. Class III generally referred for the games those are played on casinos. It also includes the lotteries and video terminal games. Under the Indian gaming regulatory act these kinds of games are permitted to some places and can only be held on those places where regulatory bodies gives the rights to tribes to conduct these kind of games. Tribes must be met by the conditions by Indian gaming regulatory act before lawfully conduct class III gaming. Indian Gaming commission Congress has established a body to control the workings and conditions imposed by law on every tribe. This body is also known as Indian gaming commission. The primary aim of the commission is to regulate gaming activities on Indian lands in efficient manner. This commission maintains the shield for the tribes from crimes and unlawful activities those are involved in Indian games. Some of main purpose of National Indian gaming commission are It provide statutory basis for the Indian games and ensure that revenue generated form the games are used for the welfare of tribes. National Indian gaming commission set the regulations for the prevention of fraud and crimes in gaming of the behalf of both players and operators. For the achievement of these goals, the Commission is authorized and able to conduct any kind of investigations, enforcement actions, civil fines, conduct audits, and review and approve Tribal gaming ordinances. Compacts for Indian Gaming A compact can be described as the agreement between the state and a tribe for the rules and regulations to the conduct of Class III gaming under the Indian gaming regulatory act. A compact can be described as a negotiated agreement between two political entities that have solutions for any issue about tribe’s responsibilities. The main purpose of the compacts is to make a balance of power between states and tribal governments. Indian Gaming regulatory act state clearly the procedure of making any compact between tribes in relation with Indian gaming. On the other side some there are some necessary condition for any successful compact between the states. Some of these are All gaming rules are followed regarding the compacts made between state and the tribe. All compacts needs to be approved first and published on federal register. Summary of the legal history Base for the Legal History Form earlier times tribes have their own rules and regulations about Indian gaming. Like all other tribes legal history of “golden hill” is affected by the some major cases that become as a lifesaver and change the whole value of Indian gaming in Indian tribes. These cases also considered as a base of the legal development for Indian games. Some of the details of these cases are mentioned below The legal history which supports the right of Indian tribes in relation with gaming is derived form a case “Bryan v. Itasca County” that involved state taxes on Indians. The main purpose of this case was “whether the regulatory laws of state applied to the Indians”. The decision was given by the Supreme Court of United States that “State has not any authority to apply their own laws and regulations to Indians” There is another case which directly related to the development of Indian gaming was "Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Butterworth". The question raised in this case was “whether Florida's statute was regulatory even though it imposed a penalty”. The decision is given by the federal court in this case that “the imposition of a criminal penalty did not necessarily make a regulatory law to a criminal law, and the Florida's statute is regulatory”. The third case that was accepted for the review by the Supreme Court of United States named as "California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians". The decision is given in this case by the Supreme Court in the favor of tribe of California. TRIBAL SOVEREIGNT Tribal sovereignty has also a great importance in the legal history of golden hill and all other tribes. Simply the tribal sovereignty means that tribes have a right to make their own laws and these laws will be governed by them. The concept of tribal sovereignty was present before the creation of United States. Since tribes have come under the dominion of the United States, they retain all the power of an independent nation. But there are some restrictions are still present on “golden hill” and all other tribes. Some of these are Golden Hill ad all other tribes have not the right to make a treaty with foreign nations. The people of Golden Hill have not the right to sell their lands without approval of the Congress of the United States The people of any tribe including the people of Golden Hill have not the right to exercise criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians. Tax reliefs for Indian tribes and Golden Hill All the Individual Indians of Golden Hill pay federal taxes. But there is a tax relief on the lands those held in trust for them by the United States. On the other side of the coin all the revenue generated by Golden Hill is not taxable by state because all the tribes are treated as unique entities by law. On the other hand the main logical reason of not paying the state tax is that they do not receive state services so there is no need for state taxes. Analysis of Success in implementing the law/ policy Native Americans including the Indians of golden hill got much advantage from implementation of the rules for Indian gaming. After the establishment of Indian gaming authority, the first year produced about $100 million in revenues. With the help these revenues Indians are getting very rich and they have no longer need the help of the Federal Government. In some cases the presence of federal help can also be seen because that is the responsibility of the state to provide monitoring for Indian games. All the monitoring expense is paid from the revenues generated from Indian gaming’s operations. The success of these specific rules and laws can be judged from the success of goals those are described in earlier part of this report. For example the main purpose of implementations of law for Indian gaming is Funds the programs or operation of tribe: In current days most of the operations and programs of Golden Hill are supported form the revenue generated from gambling. For the welfare of tribes and its members: Tribes have done a good job in providing for the welfare of their members by building housing for their elders and other tribal members. For example the tribe of Golden Hill has started a school program and starts a chain for scholarships for people of their tribes. Prevention of frauds and crimes: In recent times most of the tribes run their function in lawful manner. The frauds in Indian games are fallen to very low level by the help of these policies. Any criminal offence directly results into heavy fines or sometime it converts in the case of imprisonment. In short with the help of these laws and polices many tribal governments have seen substantial improvements in their ability to provide services to their members. Conclusion and Recommendations Simply the Indian gaming has become an important means of support for tribes. It can help the tribal government to work in efficient manner. Indian gaming has also become a necessary and important part of local and regional economies. It can help the tribe for the better future and can be used more efficiently for the welfare of tribe. In recent times Indian gaming is treated as the key for expansion of gaming activities in many tribes. The rules and regulations are playing the main part in the efficiency and development of these games. As mentioned above, that tribes made $100 million revenue after the implementation of Indian gaming regulatory act. Most of the tribes have also succeeded to achieve the goals those are set in the policy like welfare of people and support their own operations form their own earnings. The Golden Hill is one of those tribe in which Indian gaming played a vital rule in economic and social development. According to me more efficient result can be achieved by making some necessary amendments in current laws and policies. There are some suggestions stated below: Changes should be made in law in relation with current technological changes because the technology has a great effect on Indian gaming in these days. Suggestions from people of tribe should always welcome. They should have the right to vote for the changing and amending the rules that directly affect them. There are number of updated rules those are still in pending list of congress. Congress should review them on immediate basis. And should make the required changes as soon as possible. In short, with the help of more amendments in rules we can make Indian games as a “life saver” for Native Americans of Golden Hill. In addition, on the other side of coin future amendments can bring a good change in the welfare for all Native American tribes. References Light, Steven A, and Kathryn R. L. Rand. Indian Gaming & Tribal Sovereignty: The Casino Compromise. Lawrence, Kan: University Press of Kansas, 2005. Print. Rose, Veronica, and James J. Fazzalaro. Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Hartford: Connecticut General Assembly, Office of Legislative Research, 1994. Print. Brilvitch, Charles W. A History of Connecticut's Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2007. Print. Murray, James. The Economic Benefits of American Indian Gaming Facilities in Wisconsin: A Study Commissioned by the Wisconsin Indian Gaming Association & the University of Wisconsin-Cooperative Extension. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin--Extension. Cooperative Extension Programs, 1993. Print. Murray, James. The Economic Benefits of American Indian Gaming Facilities in Wisconsin: A Study Commissioned by the Wisconsin Indian Gaming Association & the University of Wisconsin-Cooperative Extension. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin--Extension. Cooperative Extension Programs, 1993. Print. Torr, James D. Gambling: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 2002. Print. Wildenthal, Bryan H. Native American Sovereignty on Trial: A Handbook with Cases, Laws, and Documents. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2003. Print. Read More