Native American Gambling Research Paper

Casinos have made billions of dollars for tribes, essentially putting Indian and casinos hand in hand in many minds. Having casinos makes the reservation more close to being a state due to federal laws and regulations that they are required to follow. I am dumbfounded about how much money casinos have made tribes. I never realized how important that finding is for tribes until reading On The

Many anti-gaming supporters believe that casinos are not good and they cause nothing but problems and poverty but from experts and researchers there are different results. Studies display that casinos bring in a lot of revenue for the states and cities, it creates more jobs for the community, and it creates leisure activity/tourism. Many people believe that casinos will bring crime to the area that the casino is located which may be true but in most cases, there is no new crime that hasn’t already been going on in that community. Even though casinos can be beneficial to communities not every major city should or will have one. Casinos should be placed in communities that can handle what comes with a casino. State and Federal laws still need to regulate them and make sure it is having a positive impact. According to a study done by Dr. Patrick Basham, “The Social Benefits of Gambling” he stats that casinos do not significantly increase crime or poverty. Established businesses are in no threat when a casino gets introduced into the city. He also states that when a casino is introduced correctly that businesses will thrive rather than suffer (Basham). This proves that casinos can be a positive impact on the community. “In 2015, commercial casinos accounted for a total of more than 350,000 good-paying jobs” ("What Are the Economic Impacts of the Casino Gaming

Although while some Native American Tribes may benefit financially because of the casinos, most have the worst standard of living in the United States.

American Indian culture included gambling for many centuries. More than 100 tribes were known to play different versions of dice games before the Europeans settled in the United States. In the United States, gambling on Indian reservations has become quite common. There are 225 tribes in 28 states who operate some sort of gaming facility. Gambling on reservations was initially established to promote economic development in order to increase the standard of living. It was seen as a way to increase income on poverty-stricken reservations. (Momper 2010)

First, when allowing casinos into parts of the state, it brings with it multiple opportunities for employment, i.e., construction jobs, manager positions, server positions, gaming technicians, etc. When casinos enter a state, research has proven that the unemployment rate dropped significantly. According to the University of Chicago, National Opinion Research Center (NORC), “communities closest to casinos experienced a 12 percent to 17

Per capita payments are the cash that the tribe distributes each year from its casino profits, which have grown as gaming revenues have risen and can range from as little as a few hundred dollars a year to more than $100,000. These payments have been shown to have negative affects and could be done in a more positive and effective way. In the study done by the American Indian Law Journal, of the 17 tribes studies that handed casino profits directly to its members, 10 saw their poverty rates rise, and of the 7 tribes that did note, only two saw such an increase. One tribe in northern Washington has eliminated poverty completely, and that tribe does not issue any per capita payments and has used its casino profits to diversify into other businesses. With growing tribal gaming revenues, poverty can become worse through the way casino profits are sometimes distributed through its per capita payments. These payments can be seen as a form of reparations, but they show the negative affects they have on the Native Americans by allowing some of them to be comfortable with living in poverty because of they payments they know they are going to receive from the casinos due to their large profits and the way casinos distribute them.

This is considering that some tribes have been highly successful with building gambling casinos on their reservation land, and their economic conditions have

60?s, and 70?s, but that was then and this is now. ?While there may be some

Mike Justice, a member of the Siletz tribe in Oregon, is jobless and lives with his recovering addict wife and son (The Economist, 2015). He could work at the tribe’s casino, but instead collects welfare payments and $1,200 yearly from the casino per capita payments (The Economist, 2015). The minimum wage he would make at the casino would barely pay for the transportation costs, since Justice has no vehicle, so he would rather not work and collect money (The Economist, 2015). This is a growing problem and a newer study in the American Indian Law Journal of 24 tribes in the Pacific North-West shows that growing casino revenues can actually make poverty worse as poverty rose from 25% to 29% from 2000 to 2010(The Economist, 2015). Of the 17 tribes in the study that paid directly to tribe members, poverty rose in ten of them (The Economist, 2015). Why the rise in poverty? One reason is the way the money is distributed. The more an individual is paid, the more he has the desire not to work (The Economist, 2015). Obesity, poor health, drug abuse, and alcoholism are already problems and without health insurance, from not working, these problems get much

Conversely, if an individual has squandered their vacation or gambling budget in the casino, are they now viewed as potential criminal offenders? Again, it is nearly impossible to conclude whether or not these types of robberies are due to the casino that is attracting the tourism, or the fact that the community itself has now become a tourist attraction?

3). Of course, these high growth industries pertain to casinos as depicted through the picture, which precedes the text. of a large Bingo Casino owned by the Coeur D’Alene Tribe. This only serves to further the growing belief in America's society that Native Americans have struck it rich with the establishment of Casinos, but unemployment among adult Indians is about 15 percent – roughly three times the national average – and Native Americans remain America’s poorest people. Of the more than 560 Native American nations, only 224 are involved in gaming (NARF, n.d., para. 3).

IGRA is viewed differently among the Native and the non-Native people. To many Americans, IGRA is a compromise between the American government and the tribal government because it enables tribes to support themselves, while it meets the Congress’ intention of opening more jobs to control poverty-related crimes. According to a survey by the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) in 2006, as much as 75% of Americans believe that Indians benefit from gaming (“The Economic Impact of Indian Gaming in 2006”). It is approximated that the tribal gaming industry generates $15.9 billion in revenue in 2003 (“National Indian Gaming Association”), and has created over 550,000 jobs (Light and Rand, 85). Even though there is only a small change in the number of crimes as a result of casinos, it is enough to conclude that “crime rates were reduced, but not in an overwhelming way” (Light and Rand, 97). On the contrary, Native Americans believe that it is a “one-sided negotiations” that gives the state and federal government power over tribal authority (Light and Rand, 3).

Prior to the establishment of gaming casinos on tribe reservations, many Indian communities, especially in California, had little to no options in terms of the economic development of their tribe. This was the case because a lot of these tribes had almost no land available to them and the one which they actually had was almost always deprived of any natural resources or agricultural capabilities. Gaming gave these communities the opportunity to develop their economic potential, give that their land was located near a major metropolitan area or a major highway, which is the case with many of the Indian reservations in California. The development of this industry by the tribes, gave the ones which succeeded a lot of opportunities for not only their own people, but for nonindians as well. Unfortunately this rapid success of the Indian gaming industry gave rise to the image of the wealthy Indian, similarly to the one of the corporate white man, which carries with itself a lot of negativity. However, in the case of the Indians this negativity was even stronger, since in mainstream society it was essentially not acceptable for a Native American person to be rich and well-off.

The development of tribal casinos or what is commonly referred to as organized gambling can be credited to Native American reservations. Gaming operations have brought phenomenal success to many native tribes in America, and there has been a new dimension to the existing debate regarding Native American sovereignty in organized gambling. There are over 310 casinos ran by about one-third the nations federally recognized tribes, and generate around $10 billion in revenue which is one-sixth of all revenue generated through legal gaming in the country (Evans, Topoleski, 2002). Many of the tribes are now able to provide for themselves essential services rather than wait for the government. However, most

Adding to Native American casino fortunes, their casinos are likely to increase over the next few years. It is noted that several states are reaching agreements to allow the introduction or expansion of Native American casinos because of the additional revenues they can provide. This increases the Native American casinos opportunities and consitutes a high barrier for new entrants. The major source for this entry barrier is the cost disadvantage independent of scale regarding the favorable government polices vis -a -vis the Indian Gaming and Recration Act of 1988.