Dwanna Robertson: Not all tribes getting rich from Indian gaming

Monday, June 25, 2012  

"If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me about receiving money from Indian casinos, I might be relatively rich. No such luck. Non-Native people generally assume Indians are getting rich from tribal casinos, and often engage in intensive question-and-answer sessions when challenged. People have difficulty reconciling public myth with factual information, especially about a subject so politicized. In my opinion, lack of knowledge combined with the complexity of federal-state-tribe relations contribute to common misconceptions about Indian gaming.

Not every tribe has a casino. In 2011, NIGC reported out of 566 federally recognized tribes, only 246 tribes operate 460 gaming facilities in 28 states. Thus, 324 tribes (57 percent) have no gaming operations. Indeed, the rural and unpopulated geographic locations of many Native nations discourage gaming.

Not every Indian has a job. As of 2009, Natives experienced unemployment at 13.1 percent—greater than the nation average of 9.2 percent. Many tribes operate gaming facilities primarily to generate employment. The total number of jobs by Indian gambling created nationwide is impressive: 628,000. But up to 75 percent of those jobs go to non-Indian employees. Areas of extremely high unemployment with a high density of Native folk are the exception—80% of gaming employees in North and South Dakota are Indian. But jobs at Indian Casinos are low-paying and lag behind national wages for the same group of workers."

Get the Story:
Dwanna L. Robertson: The Myth of Indian Casino Riches (Indian Country Today 6/23)