Where today are the Pequot? Where are the Narragansett, the Mohican,
the Pokanoket, and many other once powerful tribes of our people? They have
vanished before the avarice and the oppression of the White Man, as snow
before a summer sun. - TECUMSEH (SHAWNEE)
Today, the Mashantucket Pequot Indians of Connecticut generate an income
in the neighborhood of $1 billion annually from their Foxwoods Resort Casino.
They are one of the most influential and respected Indian nations in Native
America because of their use of casino revenues in reconstructing their
infrastructure and expanding their tribal homeland. However, the people
and State of Connecticut hold the Pequots under suspicion and distrust because
they percieve thePequot's wealth to be unregulated. The fact is, Indian
gaming can only be operated by tribal governments, not individuals, as mandated
by the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). The 1988 Act directs gaming
tribes to use their gaming revenues solely on their reservation infrastucture.
The gaming tribes have used their revenues to build schools, houses, roads,
sewer and water systems, and to fund health care and educational programs.
Indian gaming has given economic, social, and cultural vitality and stability
to gaming tribes.
The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act created three levels of Indian gaming:
Class I gaming is social games solely for prizes of minimal value, Class
II is bingo and related games such as lotteries, etc., Class III is casino-style
high stakes gaming. Class I gaming has been in existence long before European
contact. In the last eight years Indian tribes have developed Class III
gaming on their reservations. Today, 104 out of the 557 Indian tribes have
Class III casino-style gaming. This class of Indian gaming accounts for
only 5% of the entire gaming industry and Indian gaming revenues account
for approximately $5.5 billion, a mere 1.6 percent of the national gaming
revenues. It seems strange, given these statistics, that American Indian
tribes should be faced with such overwhelming obstacles in establishing
gaming on their reservations.
Economic security on Indian reservations is in a state of emergency. The
Republican-controlled Congress has proposed to cut $214 million from the
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) $1.9 billion budget. The proposed cut will
have a detrimental effect on tribal services and programs. In 1991, the
BIA reported that the unemployment rate on reservations was 45 percent.
Isolated tribes have an unemployment rates as high as 80 percent. These
isolated tribes suffer the highest unemployment, the lowest per capita income,
the lowest level of formal education, the highest rate of infant mortality,
the greatest incidence of malnutrition, and the highest rate of death by
exposure in the United States. Indian gaming has become a survival tool
for reservations. Two examples are the Santa Ynez and Monrongo reservation
in Southern California. Santa Ynez reservation has been able to employ 100
percent of its tribal community because of gaming. In 1983, the Monrongo
Band employed 50 of their 700 tribal members at their bingo (Class II) operation.
Their unemployment rate was at 70 percent , their dropout rate was 80 percent,
and they were in extreme poverty. In 1994, Casino Monrogo provided 600 jobs
for Indian and non-Indian employees. They were able to eliminate welfare
on their reservation entirely because their revenues exceeded $50 million.
They are now the second leading employer for the Banning Beaumont area of
California, and have projected that an additional 200 jobs will be created
by the casino within the next year.
The myth that Indian gaming is only beneficial to Indians can be refuted
by employment rates and economic development in local communities, and revenue
sharing with state governments. The National Indian Gaming Association reports
that "over 120,00 direct jobs and 160,000 indirect jobs have been created
nationwide." The Michigan gaming tribes provide 2,000 jobs, of which
40 percent are filled by non-Indians. Wisconsin gaming tribes provide jobs
for 4,500 people, of which 2,000 are non-Indians. The Mashantucket Pequot
tribal enrollment is about 300 members. Their Foxwoods Resort Casino employs
approximately 9,000 people. The Pequot also have a revenue-sharing agreement
with the State of Connecticut. Last year, the Pequots paid the State of
Connecticut approximately $100 million.
For the first time, gaming tribes are able to provide employment, education,
health care, housing, and other important services without federal government
assistance.
In summation, Indian nations have the sovereign right to operate Class III
gaming. Indian gaming is providing capital through which tribes are able
to make economic and social improvements on their reservation. For the first
time gaming tribes are able to provide employment, education, health care,
housing and other important services without federal government assistance.
Indian gaming is benefiting communities immediately surrounding the reservation
as well as the taxpaying Americans. The fact of the matter is that everyone
benefits from self-sufficient Indian nations and gaming is viable route
to self-sufficiency.
Tim Sanchez, Graduate Student in Education, Jemez/San Felipe Pueblo