Indian Casinos Need to be Banned

At the end of the day, I'm not against legalized gambling. However, our system is completely screwed up. For most of our citizens, our laws clearly ban running of casinos. However, the Indian Casinos are a massive loophole in the system that is subverting our laws. What are we thinking?

Several problems exist. First, in order to accept Indian Gaming, you have to believe that American Indians today are somehow wronged and treated unfairly. For some reason, these people not only receive ridiculous government subsidies that most Americans don't get, but these people also get to make their own laws. How long is it before its legal to do crack cocaine on some Indian Reservation? Many Americans are victims of discrimination and hardship from the past. For Indians, its now been 200-300 years since their forefathers lost their land. Todays American Indians are no more "victimized" than you or I. African Americans arguably had an even tougher (and more recent) hardship than American Indians with slavery. Yet African Americans don't get to set their own laws. And they don't get extra subsidies either. Why do we think we owe American Indians anything whatsoever?

The next problem is that Indian Casinos would not exist were it not for big business coming into reservations, planning the casinos, subsidizing them, and then walking away with a majority of the profits. Don't be fooled into thinking that all this money gets pumped back into the tribes. It doesn't. One famous company which does exactly this is Lakes Entertainment, Inc. You've probably heard of them. They are also the creators of the World Poker Tour. The owner of this company is Lyle Berman, a definitely NON Indian, but he manages many indian casinos. He has been quoted saying, "We're the most successful company in Indian gaming".

And recognize that Indian Gaming is basically completely unregulated. The NIGC allegedly oversees what is going on, but the industry is known for loopholes to billion dollar business. The financials of most all Indian Casinos are closed books- we don't get to see how much they are making, who is getting paid, and how much really goes to the tribes. If we're going to be so naive as to think that we owe these people something, shouldn't we at least allow ourselves a little audit? Lets make sure that if we're treating a group of people as "special", that the special treatment is going to the right place.

Lastly, the worst offense in all this is taxes. Indians are allowed to run casinos in areas where they should be illegal, and then they don't even pay taxes on their profits! How is it that these people can consume products from the rest of our nation, and take money from the rest of our nation, and not contribute to the governmental overhead required to make it all exist? Its absolutely asinine to let this happen.

I don't blame the American Indians. We should take advantage of the laws which benefit us. Its not their fault - its ours. And it is definitely time that we start treating American Indians as equals. They are not dumb. They are not underprivileged. They are not unable to survive on their own. The injustices that occurred to their ancestors is now hundreds of years in the past. Allowing any group of people within the United States to be exempt from the laws of this nation is immoral, unjust, and against our very own constitution and bill of rights.

Some people will say that my statements here are to recommend recinding the sovereignty that "we" gave Indians long ago. They are right. They would probably say it was just "one more lie from the white man". But come on, these people are not sovereign. If they were, they would not need to travel outside of their nation for food, gasoline, equipment, supplies, and *everything* which maintains their existence. About the only thing produced in quantity on reservations is gambling. If they want to live as their ancestors did long ago, and hunt on the land, etc. That is fine. But if they want to run casinos, that is not indian culture. That is American culture. And the American culture pays taxes and abides by American laws.

If we were to continue to abide by the ridiculous laws that gave them sovereignty, when does it ever end? Is it forever? What about the other people that have been victims of injustice? I guess they lost the "lottery". They weren't Indian blooded.

References:
Time Magazine's Indian Casinos Reports

This is Time Magazine's report, so its a little less in depth. But overall, it sites excellent examples and is a good overview.

The National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC)

This site is interesting, because it appears to be down, and has been down, for days. I suspect its their modus operandi.

Indian Scam

An article from the National Review Online.

Thunder in the Foothills - The State of Indian Gaming

A series of articles from the Reno Gazette Journal.

American Indians on Reservations: A Databook of Socioeconomic Change Between the 1990 and 2000 Censuses

Casinos and Indian Sovereignty

Do Native Americans really have it bad as we think?

This blog raises a couple of great points about why its unfair to treat American Indians as special.

How

Funny article about special treatment for American Indians. A bit colorful - not to be read by the too serious or faint of heart.

"Indian Gambling" and Farm Subsidies

Takes the opposite view on Indian Gaming as myself.

Posted by Cruzino at March 5, 2005 05:57 PM | TrackBack