SEARCH NEWS:

 

Inside Gaming: Pondering the Whys of Tribal Casinos

A recent column that said tribal gaming is for suckers enraged a lot of readers. No one wanted to be called a sucker, even if they turn up losers with tribal casinos.

On one point I yield. I wrote tribal casinos have few "new" slots. More critics hurled invectives over that than any other point. I should have written there are few "added" slots. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn't have his revenues from the new compacts, but customers certainly have entertaining games for losing money.

However, there is a growing body of revisionist opinion on tribal casinos, especially here in California where I'm wrapping up medical treatments. It suggests the underlying premises of tribal casino operations deserve re-examination.

Advocates of that view, many of whom also wrote in, say to forget the constraints of legal opinions. Instead, they say to simply heed common sense, like Thomas Paine, generations ago.

American Indian tribes are sovereign nations. Federal and state authorities lack the power to tax them. Gussing up taxes on tribes with other names does not change that they are banned by our Constitution, by the laws of the United States and by our courts.

Here in California, advocates say tribes pay no taxes and that isn't fair. Fine. Offer to give them their land back in return for which they'd yield sovereignty and pay taxes. There's a deal no one would accept.

Recognizing their need for revenues and the tribes' rights to run casinos, some states have offered tribes development compacts in return for promises to pay fees disguised not to be taxes. Some tribal leaders have also approached states offering to pay these fees if they get permission to operate or expand existing casinos.

That may be legal in court, but common sense says the first amounts to extortion and the second to bribery. Experts say those options were OK when there were few casinos and little money was involved. But tribal casinos win more than $18 billion a year based on agreements ordinary taxpayers neither understand nor support.

The appearance, clearest in California, that most politicians and possibly state governments are for sale is creating a backlash. Even law professors are coming around to the view that public reaction could leave the tribes and state governments holding the bag. Some go so far as to say overindulgence by states such as California could erode popular public support for gaming nationwide.

For individual tribal members, that might not be so bad. Increases in bankruptcy, crime rates, drug abuse and failed marriages that predictably flow from casino development are likely to be found close to home, on tribal lands near the casinos. There has to be a better way for policy-makers to help beleaguered American Indians, if that is their wish.

The Inside Gaming column is compiled by Gaming Wire Editor Rod Smith. He can be reached by e-mail at rodneysmith1@aol.com, by phone at 338-9653 or by fax at 387-5243.

Copyright GamingWire. All rights reserved.

< Gaming News