Travel: Indian gaming has become vital to self-sufficiency

Thursday, May 5, 2011  

"The ideal waitress is friendly and efficient - and Jana is that and more - so we can't really complain about her parlous grasp of geography. She does have the grace to be abashed about having no clue where New Zealand is, and we aren't offended: she is, endearingly, equally ignorant about Australia. We're a long way from Auckland, after all, in Washington State on an Indian reservation in the restaurant of a flash new casino resort.

For those of us brought up on TV Westerns, Indians and casinos seem an unlikely combination; but the route from teepee to Texas Hold'em is both straightforward and fortuitous. Gaming is a tribal tradition: back in pre-colonial days, it centred on guessing games with shells, bones and sticks to the accompaniment of drumming and spectators shouting wagers; so bingo, brought by the settlers, was readily adopted. Since Indian tribes are recognised in the US constitution as "domestic, dependent nations", their self-governing sovereignty means they aren't bound by state regulations limiting the size of prizes. The freedom to build high-stakes casinos and reap the huge profits they bring has been vital to the tribes' self-sufficiency.

Tulalip Resort and Casino is a perfect example: it was built by three tribes that were pushed off their land in 1855 onto a peninsula on Puget Sound, north of Seattle."

Get the Story:
USA: A lucky break for tribal culture (NZ Herald 5/5)