Global Gaming Expo panel discusses IGRA as law hits milestone

Friday, October 5, 2012  

It seems hard to believe but the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 will turn 25 next year.

"That time has flown by," Tony Sanchez Jr., the president of the board of directors for the Seminole Tribe of Florida, said on the final day of the Global Gaming Expo, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

The law was enacted after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of tribes to conduct gaming free of state interference. As a result, many view IGRA as an infringement on sovereignty.

"Tribal leaders originally didn't want IGRA. It was very restrictive. But 25 years is just a short history. We are just scratching the surface," observed r Jason Giles, the executive director of the National Indian Gaming Association, the Review-Journal reported.

Giles said Indian gaming has become successful due to strong regulation by tribes. Tribal casinos took in $27.2 billion in 2011, the the U.S., the National Indian Gaming Commission reported in June.

Get the Story:
G2E 2012: Tribal gaming execs mark regulatory act's 25th anniversary (The Las Vegas Review-Journal 10/5)
Technology changing fast for Indian gaming, too (The Philadelphia Inquirer 10/5)