The advent of gaming on Indian reservations has created a new kind of tribal politics over the past three decades. Now armed with often substantial financial resources, Indigenous peoples have adjusted their political strategies from a focus on the judicial system and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to one that directly lobbies state and federal governments and non-Indigenous voters. These tactics allow tribes to play an influential role in shaping state and national policies that affect their particular interests. Using case studies of major Indian gaming states, the contributing authors analyze the interplay of tribal governance, state politics, and federalism, and illustrate the emergence of reservation governments as political power brokers.
Based on an award-winning dissertation, "Indian Gaming" examines the conflicts over the gaming operations of American Indian tribes, which have led to a new era of tribal autonomy. Also examined is the role of the United States Attorney's office and its authority on Indian lands. 20 illustrations. 2 maps.
Examines Indian gaming in detail: what it is, how it became on of the most politically charged phenomena for tribes and states today, and the legal and political compromises that shape its present and will determine its future.
The tribal gaming industry has changed significantly since President Reagan signed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act into law. The National Indian Gaming Commission recently announced that tribal gaming brought in $31.2 billion in gross gaming revenue for 2016, the largest amount in the history of Indian gaming. As Chairman Forsman of the Suquamish Tribe will testify, the revenue flowing from gaming activities not only creates jobs and stimulates tribal economy, but also goes a long way to supplement the massive shortfalls left by the Federal Government's failure to appropriate adequate funding to meet Indian Country's needs. Unlike commercial casinos that generate revenue for shareholders, gaming revenue provides essential government services for tribal citizens, services like housing, health care, education, public safety and general social services. The benefits of Indian gaming also go beyond reservation boundaries. According to the National Indian Gaming Association, tribal gaming has created nearly 700,000 jobs and generated more than $10 billion in revenue for Federal, State and local governments in 2015 alone. While the benefits of gaming revenue to tribal governments are significant and have been the key to revitalizing some tribal economies, it is not the panacea for all. There is still much work to be done to truly achieve tribal self determination and sufficiency.
In just over two decades, Indian gaming has become big business throughout the United States. Over 300 tribal casinos in 30 states generate billions of dollars in gambling revenue. The Indian gaming industry continues to grow, attracting widespread attention in the courts, policymaking arenas, and the media. With a complex and controversial federal regulatory scheme and myriad state and tribal regulations, Indian gaming is a growing area of legal and regulatory practice. At the intersection of federal Indian law and gambling law, and against the background of tribal sovereignty, Indian gaming is a complicated and fascinating topic for students, practitioners, and policymakers alike, raising important legal, political, and public policy questions. Indian Gaming Law and Policy provides a comprehensive and accessible explanation of Indian gaming, tracing the genesis of tribal gaming and the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, enacted on the heels of the Supreme Court's landmark decision in California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians. The book discusses in detail the Act's provisions and subsequent legal and political developments, including the scope of gaming and state public policy, the line dividing Class II and Class III games, the increased politicization of tribal gaming after the Supreme Court's examination of the Act in Seminole Tribe v. Florida, and the multitude of actors -- at federal, state, and tribal levels, and within both the public and private sectors -- who have regulatory authority or other influence over Indian gaming. As debates over tribal gaming heat up across the U.S., the book examines developing political and policy issues that may determine the future of Indian gaming and includes a helpful appendix to guide practitioners and students in researching Indian gaming issues. Indian Gaming Law and Policy is a one-stop resource for practitioners and policymakers, and also is a highly readable and comprehensive account appropriate for adoption in courses in law, public policy and public administration, and contemporary issues. "Indian Gaming Law and Policy should be required reading for policymakers at the federal, state, and tribal level." -- Bimonthly Review of Law Books
In 1979, Florida Seminoles opened the first tribally operated high-stakes bingo hall in North America. At the time, their annual budget stood at less than $2 million. By 2006, net income from gaming had surpassed $600 million. This dramatic shift from poverty to relative economic security has created tangible benefits for tribal citizens, including employment, universal health insurance, and social services. Renewed political self-governance and economic strength have reversed decades of U.S. settler-state control. At the same time, gaming has brought new dilemmas to reservation communities and triggered outside accusations that Seminoles are sacrificing their culture by embracing capitalism. In High Stakes, Jessica R. Cattelino tells the story of Seminoles’ complex efforts to maintain politically and culturally distinct values in a time of new prosperity. Cattelino presents a vivid ethnographic account of the history and consequences of Seminole gaming. Drawing on research conducted with tribal permission, she describes casino operations, chronicles the everyday life and history of the Seminole Tribe, and shares the insights of individual Seminoles. At the same time, she unravels the complex connections among cultural difference, economic power, and political rights. Through analyses of Seminole housing, museum and language programs, legal disputes, and everyday activities, she shows how Seminoles use gaming revenue to enact their sovereignty. They do so in part, she argues, through relations of interdependency with others. High Stakes compels rethinking of the conditions of indigeneity, the power of money, and the meaning of sovereignty.
The second edition of this casebook will be forthcoming in Fall 2019. This is a 2017 paperback printing of the casebound edition originally published in 2008. With more than 400 tribal casinos in 30 states generating more than $23 billion in annual revenue, Indian gaming is a rapidly growing industry that is here to stay. Subject to a complex federal regulatory scheme and myriad state and tribal regulations, Indian gaming also is a growing area of legal practice. A course in Indian gaming law has legal and political currency and thus can easily "connect" with students. But more than simply learning about current events, students should come away from a course on Indian gaming law with a critical understanding of perhaps the most important legal and policy issue facing tribes today, and with a deeper sense of how tribes -- the "third sovereign" -- interact with state and federal governments in the American political system. Indian Gaming Law: Cases and Materials is a casebook that allows instructors and students to achieve these important pedagogical goals. Indian Gaming Law: Cases and Materials provides a clear, comprehensive, and accessible platform designed specifically for Indian gaming law and similar courses. Written by a law professor and a professor of political science and public administration who are the co-directors of the Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law and Policy and leading scholars in the field of tribal gaming, this casebook uniquely is informed by the reality that Indian gaming law and policy has evolved through political compromise as much as through litigation and law reform. The casebook therefore includes materials relevant to the key legal contexts of tribal gaming as well as the type and relative influence of extralegal variables that shape Indian gaming law. In this casebook, the authors fuse the necessary background on federal Indian law and the status of American Indian tribes in the American political system with legal approaches to regulating gambling, and provide a useful overarching theoretical approach grounded in tribal sovereignty. The casebook covers necessary background on federal Indian law and the legal doctrine of tribal sovereignty, as well as on the roots of Indian gaming in traditional tribal practices and the imperatives of reservation economic development; provides overviews of pre-statutory law and the genesis of the federal statutory framework governing Indian gaming in light of key court decisions; discusses how the federal classification scheme for tribal gaming creates the parameters for tribal-state relations, including compacting for casino-style gaming; and highlights such topics as the authority of the federal agency responsible for regulating Indian gaming and the authority for gaming on newly acquired lands. Materials include excerpts from relevant case law, statutes, and regulations alongside excerpts from books, journal articles, and testimony by key authorities in the field. And because Indian gaming is far from uniform, with significant variation by state and tribe, throughout the book the editors provide specific examples of tribal and state experiences with tribal gaming. To assist students in working through such complex issues, each chapter includes teaching problems and notes. The authors also provide an accompanying Instructor''s Manual that contains additional specific suggestions for discussion topics and questions, group and individual exercises, web links to capture dynamic developments in Indian gaming, and supplementary background resources for instructors. Ideal for both new and experienced teachers, Indian Gaming Law: Cases and Materials can be paired effectively with the authors'' legal resource book Indian Gaming Law and Policy.
