"We thought Herald readers would like to know about the experience of communities in other states where tribal casinos have opened.

We would like to believe Congress did not intend for non-Indian state governments, lobbyists, politicians and wealthy casino management companies to be the principal beneficiaries of the "economic opportunities" envisioned by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. Nevertheless, the $20 billion a year industry created by the act has left behind most of the people whom Congress did intend to help: the poverty-stricken Native American families across our nation.

Jack Abramoff is Exhibit A.

We would like to believe Congress remembers that citizens of the 50 states are Americans with the power to make and enforce laws. But Congress has given tribal sovereignty a primacy that has grown along with casino revenues even as the rights of U.S. citizens who are not enrolled members of a casino-owning Indian tribe have shrunk.

We would like to believe Congress did not intend "off-reservation" communities to be targeted as casino locations. But abuse of the law has opened the door to casino-tribe "reservation shopping" for prime gambling-facility venues.

That's why both Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., are sponsoring legislation to address this critical problem and now are holding hearings in Congress. And Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., is sponsoring a bill that would place a moratorium on the construction of any new tribal casinos for two years' time, while this issue is studied by Congress."

Get the Story:
Barb Lindsay And David Yeagley: Casino would be a bad bet (The Grand Forks Herald 3/26)