Building a business on shifting sands (Indian casinos)

[NVMojo]

Interesting opinion.

May 29, 2006

There are those reading my weekly columns that assume I am anti-gambling and that is true to a certain extent.

I find it appalling that so many Native Americans are losing money they can ill afford to lose in the casinos built on their reservations intended to improve economic opportunities for all members of the tribe. If a tribal member is employed at the casino and is addicted to gambling that employee will inevitably put every paycheck back into the coffers of the casino. That may improve the bottom line of the casino but it is hardly beneficial to those employees.

It is also disturbing to me when tribal members that have lived in peace and harmony, side-by-side for generations, suddenly find themselves at odds over tribal membership. In some areas of California tribal members thought to be questionable by their elected governments are simply removed from the tribal rolls. In a recent case involving the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians of California that went all of the way to the U. S. Supreme Court, those members expelled from the tribe appear to have permanently lost their status as tribal members. The Supreme Court merely went with a lower court ruling that upheld the tribal government’s actions.

I believe that none of this would have happened if it had not been for the success of the tribe’s casino. The smaller the tribe the larger the per capita checks awarded each month. I don’t know if this was the case with the Pechanga Band, but there must have been some mitigating circumstances that caused them to remove certain tribal members from their rolls.

more...

http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7880

[CountAllVotes]

1. I see this both ways too

There are 3 Indian casinos not far from where I live (within 25 miles). Many people that go just go occasionally to "get out of the house" (I live in a rural area and there is not much to do around here). So it is simply a form of entertainment for many.

However, there are also those that they call "every day'ers" that are at the casino day and night, every day. Some have lost their homes, etc. due to compulsive gambling. :(

As for members of the tribes, they too go to the casinos and play. Some of spend the whole check they get in the casinos every month, others do not however.

I find it interesting to see the competition that goes on within the tribes as a different tribe owns each of the 3 casinos. It seems to me that they Indian people that go to the casinos don't particularly care which tribe owns the casino, they go to the one that has the best payoffs going and the most fun going too.

I have nothing against gambling as long as it is kept within reasonable limits which can indeed be very difficult for some people, especially for those with a history of addiction problems.

The casinos have greatly improved the lives of the Indian people where I live if they are a member of a "recognized" tribe. This is a huge problem in the State of California as few Indian tribes are Federally recognized being there were over 100 different tribes in the State of California at one time. Because of this the ones that cannot specifically identify have no entitlement to any benefits at all via the U.S. government.

There are also Indians that do not want to be "registered" with any tribe period. This is because they see what the past and the government has done to them and their people. Many still live out in the woods northeast of where I am and no one even knows who they are or if they have children, who the children are. They are still hiding out some 150+ years after the invasion of the white man. I cannot say I blame them being a conservative estimate is that 3 out of 4 were either killed or died from disease. However, being they won't register with the tribe they are a member of, they continue to live in the most extreme poverty ever seen to most people.

And for those that will identify as being a member of tribe xy or z, they must prove this which can be also extremely difficult to do given the menagerie of tribes where I live (within the immediate region of about 100 miles there are at least a dozen).

I find that the casinos have created a lot of jealousy where I live. It is jealously not only among the Indian people themselves that do identify and get the checks and those that cannot or will not identify themselves to be a member of xy or z tribe.

The jealousy spreads further however as it is rampant in the non-Indian population. There are many people living here that are non-Indian and they've been here for sometime (their families that is) and they really dislike the Indian people and feel they deserve nothing whatsoever and that includes checks from the casino operations going on.

So, now there are a series of very complicated socio-economic issues going on here. I seriously wonder how much longer the casinos will in fact exist given all of the things going on and of course all of the under the table things that are also going on that the tribal members themselves aren't even aware of as they hire people to manage the casinos, they do not do it themselves.

My main feeling about this though is that basically I think the casinos are good for the Indian people as long as they don't end up getting "hooked" on gambling. In the area I live, gambling in the tribes is a long tradition in their histories and it is therefore not looked down upon.