"The most defensible reason for the state to get into the casino act now is not to plug a hole in the state budget, or to enrich private interests, which Canterbury's racino proposal has great potential to do. It is to pull a larger share of Minnesota's Indian population into the middle class. Casinos have indeed made a small Indian minority wealthy. But the vast majority of Minnesota's native people, particularly the Ojibwe of the Red Lake, White Earth and Leech Lake bands, are too far removed from large markets for their casinos to flourish. They need state involvement if gambling's economic engine is to work for them.

Authorizing a Canterbury racino without tribal involvement would move casino gaming out of Indian hands for the first time in the modern era. It likely wouldn't be the last time."

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Editorial: One's enough/Try for a tribal racino (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 3/11)
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