Nearly all North American Indian tribes have counted games of skill and chance among their cultures’ histories. Many tribes engaged in horse racing and other sports-like games that were key events in the tribal traditions.

Modern Tribal Gaming

In the 1980s a few tribes began hosting large bingo games on their tribal lands. These events captured the attention of lawmakers who attempted to stop the practice. Tribes fought to retain the rights to game on their own land. In 1988 the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress. The act allows individual states the right to sanction legal gambling on tribal lands if they so choose.

Free From Taxation

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act also stipulated that the tribes were outside the scope of taxation. However, it was a requirement of the act that any state sanctioning gambling on tribal lands was required to negotiate a “compact” with the tribe. Compacts are agreements made between states and tribes in which a percentage of profits is negotiated for the state. Compacts can be renegotiated whenever the state government feels it is appropriate.

Classes of Indian Gaming

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act defined three distinct classes of games that states could approve for tribal casinos. Class I gaming is traditional tribal games. Class II includes bingo, lotteries, and raffles. Class III includes slot machines and electronic and video poker and most casino table games, such as blackjack, craps, and roulette. Until recently, most tribal casinos only included Class II gambling games. Currently there are a number of Indian casinos offering Class III machines.

The Biggest Casino

So far, the biggest casino in the United States, in terms of square footage, is purported to be the Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Connecticut. The casino is owned by the Mashantucket-Pequot tribe and the casino, alone, covers more than 300,000 square feet. The casino features well more than 7,000 slot machines.

Are Indian Casinos Rich

Many sources claim that because a couple of high profile and extremely popular Indian casinos have done well for themselves, that Native Americans are now well off. Unfortunately, only a handful of tribes have managed to get casino gaming off the ground with proven success.

Those tribes that have succeeded must give significant portions of their proceeds to state governments based on the negotiations of compacts. Of course there are still also the serious levels of unemployment, poverty, and substance abuse that have run rampant on many reservations for generations.