Opinion: Sioux tribes should push for an off-reservation casino

Monday, June 28, 2010  

"Instead of all the handwringing that's going on, it's time for the Native American tribes in South Dakota - all of them, not just the one in Flandreau - accompanied by business leaders from the eastern part of the state to go to Gov. Mike Rounds with a proposal for a United Sioux Tribes casino next to the Iowa border.

No legislation is needed to build this casino. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act gives state governors the authority to permit Native American tribes to obtain trust land that does not adjoin their home reservations. So only Rounds' permission is needed, which, if he's interested in South Dakota's economy, should be granted without taking an extra breath.

Such a casino would go a long way toward making the Native American tribes in South Dakota more independent from federal money than they have been so far. It also would keep South Dakota's money in South Dakota. In addition, it would finance an events center in Sioux Falls without taxing lower-income people in the Sioux Falls area. It also would create an awful lot of jobs in the casino and in the adjacent hotel as well as in the shopping mall that surely would be built to accompany the casino resort.

All this can be accomplished with the revenue generated from a United Sioux Tribes casino. The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe is trying hard to get Rounds' permission to build its own casino near Sioux Falls, but to try to cut out the other Native American tribes in South Dakota would be grossly unfair because they all need revenue to take care of their people."

Get the Story:
James G. Abourezk: Tribes should push for united casino (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 6/26)