The Benefit of Native American Casino - Research Paper Example

 Native American Casinos Imagine growing up in a community with no running water, sewage or electricity. Where hungry children play on the dirt roads littered with glass and broken bottles next to their poorly constructed homes. Now imagine that I am speaking of America, because such places do exit in the US, tucked away in the remote corners, where everyone tends to forget that the US government has pushed Native American reservations in uninhabited regions. That is until urban sprawl infected these areas like a virus. Surrounded by the wealth of suburbia, the impoverished Native Americans suffered neglect, racism, and disenfranchisement, as their Tribal Governments failed to provide the minimum services that non-tribal citizens take for granted. This continued until tribes were able to exert their sovereign rights to determine whether it was feasible to operate casinos to enable the Tribal governments to provide resources and services to their citizens. Similar to the process resorted to by Nevada’s casinos in which the state takes a portion of the gaming revues to fund the state government; tribal governments are able to run the government from the funds generated by Indian gaming operations. Right from 1988 onwards, when the United States Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), revenues from Native American casinos have grown at an extraordinary rate. According to a PowerPoint presentation given by the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) Chairman, Native American casinos’ revenues increased from 9.8 billion in 1999 to 26.7 billion in 2008 (National Indian Gaming Commission, 2008). The economic stimulus from gaming has brought new hope and opportunity to Native people. Native American casinos are a benefit to impoverished tribes and provide an economic benefit to local communities. The opportunities facilitated by gaming have enhanced Native American families and culture. Casinos are a powerful economic engine that funds tribal government services, which can improve the quality of life in Indian country. Another benefit of having casinos on reservations is that they boost the local communities’ consumption of goods and services. In order to establish gaming on reservations, tribes approached the United States Supreme Court to fight for sovereignty rights. In 1986, in California vs. Cabazon, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Tribes as sovereign nations have a right to conduct gaming on tribal lands because “…although state laws may be applied to tribal Indians on their reservations if Congress has expressly consented, Congress has not done so here either by Pub. L. 280 or by the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 (OCCA)”. (California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, 1987) Reacting to the US Supreme Court’s decision, the Untied States Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). As a part of the IGRA, Congress established Class1, Class II, and Class III types of gaming, in which Tribal governments had a duty to develop regulatory systems. It was congress’ intent to assure that gaming on reservations was designed to help native people become self-sufficient. Another focus of the Indian gaming act was to protect Tribes from organized crime, as happened in the nascent days of Las Vegas. (Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988) Former public information officer for Nevada's gaming control agency, Guy Farmer stated that, “Indian gaming, with profits of more than $25 billion per year, is virtually unregulated because for all intents and purposes, tribal casinos police themselves. The toothless National Indian Gaming Commission, a dependency of the inapt U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, has fewer employees than Nevada's gaming control agencies, and many more casinos to regulate. So when it comes to Indian casinos, the fox is watching the henhouse.” (Farmer 2008) Contrary to Mr. Farmer’s assertions, Indian gaming has the most regulated casinos within the gaming industry. Unlike Las Vegas, Native American casinos are overseen by five different agencies. First, Indian gaming is overseen by the Tribal Governments, which ensures that employee background checks are performed regularly, independent audits are conducted, and certifies that day-to-day oversight on rules for each type of gaming regulate Indian gaming. Secondly, the federal government body known as the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) regulates Native American casinos, providing for another layer of background checks on casino employees, performing audits, approving tribal gaming ordinances, and taking enforcement actions that include fines, civil penalties and casino closures. In addition, at the federal level, the Bureau of Indian Affair (BIA) has the authority to approve gaming agreements between states and tribes, known as compacts. The fourth agency is the Department of Justice (DOJ), which handles the allocation of land to the trusts meant for Tribes and can bring to bear the resources of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), as and when needed to investigate gaming violations. Fifthly, the State agencies regulate Native American Casinos too. The State’s role is defined by the agreement signed between the tribe and the state. Typically, the state negotiates for the same oversight role as the National Indian Gaming Commission. In comparison to Las Vegas gaming, Native American casinos have more oversight agencies and respective regulations in place to protect gaming integrity and patron safety. Life on a reservation before Indian Gaming was indeed a disturbing picture, because of the level of poverty and poor living standards that circumscribed the average person’s life. Many reservations did not have roads, plumbing, schools, elderly care, or proper housing to support tribal families or the community. These typical services, which Americans expect from their governments in today’ society were not available to Native Americans. Reservations were disenfranchised communities. Living on a reservation increased the likelihood that someone would not graduate from high school, would engage in criminal activities, and have children out of wedlock, all of which further contributed to the vicious spiral of poverty and poor living conditions. With the introduction of gaming, tribal governments were able to finance services for tribal citizens, thereby enhancing their quality of life and alleviating their poverty and compromised life style. A study was conducted on the tribes in the New Mexico area to make comparisons between gaming and nongaming data. It revealed that one of the benefits of Indian gaming is that it helped impoverished tribes raise their standards of living and provided vital resources to the tribal citizens, as is demonstrated by figures in Table 1, which show that many of the economic indicators doubled because of gaming revenues. The casino industry is sometimes associated with criminal activities and impropriety. Anti-gambling activists believe that casinos attract individuals with low moral standards who engage in criminal activities like drugs and prostitution. Casinos, like all adult entertainment venues; for example, nightclubs and bars have a stigma of crime and indulgence associated with them. There is also the belief that Native American casinos create problem gamblers. The reality is that a vast majority of people go to casinos to have a good time. There are only a small proportion of individuals who get addicted to gaming. Similar to the education and prevention programs resorted to by cigarette and alcohol companies, Native American Casinos are developing programs to successfully address these issues, without negatively affecting the majority of the people who do not have a problem. This negative perception of casinos is confined to a small section of the society, as the gaming industry is considered an avenue for entertainment rather than vice. A Study conducted by the American Gaming Association revealed that (Table 2) a majority of the Americans considered gaming to be an acceptable and valid activity. Table 2 Native American casinos have a substantial economic impact on the local communities. Communities near reservations do like the commercial fallout of having a casino in their backyard. Native American casinos purchase a substantial amount of goods from the local communities, which help support a variety of local businesses. Gaming enterprises employ local members of the community that benefit the community through taxes and an enhanced consumer purchasing power. “There are myriad reasons that communities have decided to add casinos to their economic mix, and survey participants see the benefits that casinos bring to the communities where they operate. More than half see casinos as ways to create jobs (31 percent) or tax revenues (22 percent) for local communities. Survey respondents also view casino gaming as a way to generate tourism, promote economic development and expand entertainment and dining options for an area.” (Smith, Hart, & Prater 2009) The vast majority of Americans see Indian casinos to be a boon to there community. Native American tribes contribute large amounts of money to local charities and organizations. This is in addition to the fee tribes are required to pay to local and state governments to mitigate the impact of gaming. These generous donations help rebuild schools, help needy children and other impoverished tribes. “Tribal charitable donations linked to gaming are more difficult to estimate, but NIGA cites file information, surveys of its member tribes, press releases and press reports to say tribal governments donated more than $100 million to local and national charities in 2004.” (Reynolds, 2005) These large donations are made possible only because of the revenue generating power of casinos. Native American casinos benefit tribal citizens and local communities in many ways. Courtesy these Casinos, Native Americans are able to fund health care, education, housing, and roads that have helped lessen the severe poverty associated with reservation life. This newfound wealth spills over into the local communities through supplies and trade, employment, services, and taxes generated by Indian gaming. States also benefit from gaming, as fees are often included in the tribe and State agreements, known as compacts. These funds not only mitigate the negative impact of the casinos but also support emergency services, traffic control, charities and social programs, which tribal citizens themselves volunteer for and manage. The provision for social responsibility unexceptionally extends into the overall scope of the casinos that provide resources and information to help prevent problem gambling to lessen any negative impact on the community. Casino revenues constitute an economic engine that fuels tribal, local, state, and federal governments. References California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, 480 U. S. 202 (1987) McGowan, Richard A.(2008), Historical Guides to Controversial Issues in America: The Gambling Debate. Connecticut: Greenwood Press National Indian Gaming Commission. (2009, June) 2008 Indian Gaming Revenues [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://www.nigc.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=XB5s8ny7ONk%3D&tabid=915 The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, Pub.L. No. 100-497, 25 U.S.C. § 2701 (1988) Thaddieus W. Conner & William A. Taggart, 2009. The Impact of Gaming on the Indian Nations in New Mexico, Social Science Quarterly, The Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 90(1), pages 50-70. Smith, Andrew, & Hart, D. Peter & Prater, Marcus, 2009. State of the State: The AGA Survey of Casino Entertainment. Retrieved on June 1, 2009 from http://www.americangaming.org/assets/files/aga-sos2009web.pdf Reynolds, Jerry, 2005. NIGA Tribal Gaming Impact Analysis, National Indian Gaming Association, retrieved on June 1, 2009 on www.washingtonindiangaming.org Farmer, Guy W., Indian Casino will be a blow to Northern Nevada, Nevada Appeal, April 20, 2008. Retrieved on June 13, 2009, from http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20080420/OPINION/839970861 Read More