Gambling and American Indians
Gambling has emerged as a significant economic activity among American Indian tribes, particularly since the late twentieth century. Historically, while some Native American cultures engaged in traditional forms of gambling as a sport, the development of commercial gambling on reservations began in earnest in 1979 with the Seminoles' foray into the bingo industry. By the mid-1980s, a substantial number of federally recognized tribes had adopted organized games of chance, leading to the passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988, which formalized and regulated gambling on reservations.
This legislation enabled tribes to operate casinos without state interference, providing opportunities for economic development, reduced poverty levels, and improved living conditions through revenue generation. For some tribes, such as the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux, gambling has led to significant financial dividends for members, funding education, healthcare, and infrastructure. However, the rise of gambling has also introduced challenges, including violence and illegal activities, notably in regions like Akwesasne, where conflicts arose between supporters and opponents of gambling. The dual nature of gambling on Indian reservations illustrates a complex interplay of economic opportunity and social tension, reflecting diverse perspectives within Native American communities.
Gambling and American Indians
Tribes affected: Pantribal
Significance: Gambling facilities have brought needed income to some native peoples, but some tribe members protest its presence on reservations
During the late twentieth century, commercial gambling became a major source of income on Indian reservations across the United States. While many Native American cultures practiced forms of gambling as a form of sport (such as the peachstone game among the Iroquois), there was no prior large-scale experience with gambling as a commercial enterprise. The arrival of gaming has brought dividends to some native peoples, but it has brought controversy culminating in firefights and death to others.
Development of Gambling
The history of reservation gambling begins in 1979, when the Seminoles became the first Indian tribe to enter the bingo industry. By early 1985, seventy-five to eighty of the federally recognized Indian tribes in the United States were conducting some sort of organized game of chance. By the fall of 1988, the Congressional Research Service estimated that more than one hundred Indian tribes participated in some form of gambling, which grossed about $255 million a year. In October of 1988, Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which officially allowed legalized gambling on reservations. The act also established the National Indian Gaming Commission to oversee gaming activities. By 1991, 150 native reservations recognized by non-Indian governmental bodies had some form of gambling. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, gross revenue from such operations passed $1 billion that year.
Individual prizes in some reservation bingo games were reported to be as high as $100,000, while bingo stakes in surrounding areas under state jurisdiction were sometimes limited to one hundred dollars. Marion Blank Horn, principal deputy solicitor of the Department of the Interior, described the fertile ground gambling enterprises had found in Indian country:
The reasons for growth in gambling on Indian land are readily apparent. The Indian tribal governments see an opportunity for income that can make a substantial improvement in the tribe’s [economic] conditions. The lack of any state regulation results in a competitive advantage over gambling regulated by the states. These advantages include no state-imposed limits on the size of pots or prizes, no restrictions by the states on days or hours of operations, no costs for licenses or compliance with state requirements, and no state taxes on gambling operations.
By the early 1990’s, gambling had provided a small galaxy of material benefits for some formerly impoverished native peoples. A half-hour’s drive from Minnesota’s Twin Cities, blackjack players crowded forty-one tables, while 450 other players stared into video slot machines inside the tipi-shaped Little Six Casino, operated by the 103 members of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux. By 1991, each member of the tribe was getting monthly dividend checks averaging two thousand dollars as shareholders in the Native American casino. In addition to monthly dividends, members became eligible for homes (if they lacked them), guaranteed jobs (if they were unemployed), and full college scholarships. The tribe had taken out health insurance policies for everyone on the reservation and established day care for children of working parents. The largest casino to open by mid-1991 was the three-million-dollar Sycuan Gaming Center on the Sycuan Indian Reservation near El Cajon, a suburb of San Diego, California.
Death at Akwesasne
While gambling has brought benefits to some Native American communities, it brought violence to the Akwesasne Mohawks of St. Regis in upstate New York. As many as seven casinos had opened illegally along the reservation’s main highway; the area became a crossroads for the illicit smuggling of drugs, including cocaine, and tax-free liquor and cigarettes.
Tension escalated after early protests against gambling in the late 1980’s (including the vandalizing of one casino and the burning of another) were met by brutal attempts by gambling supporters to repress this resistance. Residents blockaded the reservation to keep the casinos’ customers out, prompting the violent destruction of the same blockades by gambling supporters in late April, 1990. By that time, violence had spiraled into brutal beatings of antigambling activists, drive-by shootings, and night-long firefights that culminated in the deaths of two Mohawks during the early morning of May 1, 1990. Intervention of several police agencies from the United States and Canada followed the two deaths; outside police presence continued for years afterward.
Bibliography
Hornung, Rick. One Nation Under the Gun: Inside the Mohawk Civil War. New York: Pantheon Books, 1991.
Johansen, Bruce E. Life and Death in Mohawk Country. Golden, Colo.: North American Press, 1993.
New York State Legislature. Assembly. Standing Committee on Governmental Operations. Public Hearing on the Crisis at Akwesasne (Day II). Vol 2 in In the Matter of a Public Hearing into the Crisis at Akwesasne. Albany, N.Y.: Stenotype Systems, 1990.
U.S. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Indian Affairs. Murphy, M. Maureen. Gambling on Indian Reservations and Land. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1985.
Walke, Roger. Gambling on Indian Reservations. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, 1989.