GAMBLING: HOW LEGAL IS IT?

TRIBAL GAMING: MYTHS AND FACTS

1. MYTH: The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) CREATED INDIAN GAMING.

FACT: GAMING IS A RIGHT OF INDIAN NATIONS.


Gaming is one of the oldest forms of recreation; not only did Europeans bring new games to the New World, but Indians have traditional games still played today. In fact, Indian gaming existed long before Europeans settled in America. Large-scale Indian gaming, mainly in the form of bingo, predated IGRA by about 10 years. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1987 recognized Indian people's right to run gaming when it ruled that states had no authority to regulate gaming on Indian land if such gaming is permitted outside the reservation for any other purpose (California v. Cabazon). Congress established the legal basis for this right when it passed IGRA in 1988.

2. MYTH: INDIAN GAMING IS COMMERCIAL, FOR-PROFIT GAMING.

FACT: GAMING ON INDIAN RESERVATIONS IS OPERATED BY TRIBES TO FUND GOVERNMENTAL PROGRAMS.


IGRA requires that all revenues from tribal gaming operations be used solely for governmental or charitable purposes. Much like State Government and the use of funds from 40 state lotteries, Tribal Governments determine how gaming proceeds are to be spent. In direct contrast to the opulent expenditures on yachts and jets by commercial casino operators such as Donald Trump, Indian tribes are using gaming revenues to build houses, schools, roads and sewer and water systems; to fund the health care and education of their people; and to develop a strong, diverse economic base for the future.

3. MYTH: TRIBAL GAMING IS AN UNREGULATED MAGNET FOR ORGANIZED CRIME.

FACT: INDIAN GAMING IS MORE HEAVILY REGULATED AND MORE SECURE THAN COMMERCIAL GAMING.


The tribes, as governments, are the first to be vigilant in protecting the integrity of projects they rely upon to feed, clothe, educate and employ their people. Even before IGRA created a federal framework for regulating certain forms of tribal gaming, tribes regulated reservation gaming activities by exercising their inherent police powers and, when necessary, taking violators to court. Many Tribes have had existing Law Enforcement & Court Systems for years. In compacts negotiated between State Governments and Tribal Governments, such issues as law enforcement and security measures are considered. States like Arizona, for example, have reached agreements with Tribes to coordinate background checks and other security measures. While many of the opponents of Indian gaming challenge its security, they have no evidence to support their claims. In fact, at an October, 1993 House hearing, Jim Moody, FBI section chief for organized crime, testified there is "no information to support claims" that organized crime has infiltrated Indian Gaming, "We've heard more rumor and innuendoes than we've been able to prove," Moody told lawmakers. The third level of Regulation is the Federal Government: the Department of Justice, FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs provide oversight on crimes committed on Reservations. Finally, the Law (IGRA) established the National Indian Gaming Commission which became operable in February, 1993 to regulate Indian Gaming.

4. MYTH: INDIAN PEOPLE DO NOT PAY TAXES.

FACT: INDIAN PEOPLE PAY ALL TAXES REQUIRED BY STATE AND FEDERAL LAW.


All Indian people pay federal income, FICA and social security taxes. Most Indians also pay state income and property taxes. Only the small percentage of Indians who live and work on federally recognized reservations - not unlike soldiers and their families living on military installations - are exempt from paying state income and property taxes. However, they still pay taxes such as sales and Federal Income tax. Indian tribes are governments with responsibilities to their citizens, but tribes almost uniformly lack a tax base to support their governmental needs. Some tribes have found in gaming a means to not only provide jobs and economic activity on their reservations, but also a source of badly needed government revenue. As sovereign governments, tribes do not have to pay taxes on their revenues to any other governments. Do states pay taxes on their resources derived from gaming or from any other source? NO!

5. MYTH: IGRA HAS NOT WORKED AND CANNOT WORK.

FACT: INDIAN GAMING IS PROVIDING SUBSTANTIAL ECONOMIC BENEFITS IN STATES WHERE IGRA HAS BEEN GIVEN A CHANCE TO WORK.


IGRA is working to the benefit of Indians and non-Indians in several states, including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Connecticut. Reservations are slowly recovering from decades of failed government programs and building new houses, community centers, roads and much more. Indians and non-Indians are proudly leaving welfare rolls and getting on payrolls. They are taxpayers instead of tax users. Local and state governments are enjoying increased tax revenues. Only where states failed to negotiate compacts in "good faith" in violation of IGRA has the process not worked.

6. MYTH: IGRA IS AN UNCONSTITUTIONAL INFRINGEMENT UPON STATES' RIGHTS.

FACT: STATES HAVE RENEGED ON THE DEAL THEY PROPOSED AND ACCEPTED.


The states' ongoing assault on IGRA starts from the faulty premise that they have some inherent long-standing right to regulate or curtail tribal gaming. States are now trying to renege on a deal they proposed and accepted when Congress passed IGRA in 1988 by unjustly and wrongly asserting that IGRA violates the 10th and 11th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. To the contrary, the Supreme Court's Cabazon decision was a clear recognition of the right of Indian tribes to regulate gaming on their lands free of state laws if the state permitted those activities outside the reservation.

7. MYTH: TRIBAL GAMING DRAINS RESOURCES AND TAX DOLLARS FROM SURROUNDING NON-INDIAN GOVERNMENTS AND COMMUNITIES.

FACT: INDIAN GAMING CREATES ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AND TAX DOLLARS FOR SURROUNDING NON-INDIAN GOVERNMENTS AND COMMUNITIES.


Indian Gaming is now a 5 billion dollar industry according to Gaming & Wagering Magazine. Indian gaming creates jobs, increases economic activity and generates tax revenue both on and off the reservation. Consider the following: in San Diego county alone, tribal gaming has been responsible for the creation of more than 5,000 well-paying new jobs, with a payroll of \$22 million per year (and the associated payroll taxes and employee income taxes). In Minnesota, Indian gaming has become the state's seventh largest employer, having created more than 12,000 new jobs - three-fourths of which are held by non-Indians. And in Connecticut, a single Indian gaming facility will provide more revenues to the state than its largest taxpayer, which is one of the country's largest defense contractors -- direct jobs created nationally, with the majority of employees being non-Indian. Tribes have spent millions of dollars for construction. In addition, they spend many more millions per year for goods and services - almost all locally.

8. MYTH: BETTER ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ALTERNATIVES TO GAMING ARE AVAILABLE TO TRIBES.

FACT: INDIAN GAMING IS THE FIRST - AND ONLY - ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TOOL THAT HAS EVER WORKED ON RESERVATIONS.


Many reservations are in remote, inconvenient locations on land that nobody else wanted. Before tribal gaming, there had been little successful public or private sector economic development on reservations. The Federal Government/Bureau of Indian Affairs has not been successful in economic development on reservations. The states have not proposed any specific or credible alternatives to Indian gaming as a meaningful source of tribal revenues and jobs. However, tribal governments are using the gaming proceeds to diversify and conduct other economic enterprises.

9. MYTH: TRIBAL GAMING HAS LITTLE PUBLIC SUPPORT AMONG NON-INDIANS.

FACT: A MAJORITY OF AMERICANS SUPPORT INDIAN GAMING


Public opinion surveys, both nationally and within various states, conclusively demonstrate that the public strongly supports expanded gaming on Indian reservations. A national Harris Poll in October 1992, and polls in Arizona, California, Kansas, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nebraska and Washington, all show that the general public favors casino-style gambling on Indian lands but opposes expanded non-Indian gaming opportunities. The reasons given for supporting tribal gaming are consistent with the purposes behind IGRA: the revenues will help the Tribes and surrounding communities become economically self-sufficient and Tribes should have the right to govern their own lands.

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