Robert Odawi Porter: Internet gaming threatens Indian Country

Congress is now considering the legalization of gambling over the Internet. Indian country, which has invested billions of dollars in traditional “bricks and mortar” businesses, should be extremely worried about this effort. If successful, many of the over 300 tribally-owned gaming facilities risk losing significant patrons and profits.

Research on the impact of Internet gaming legalization is thin, but the primary study to date (Geiger-Johns 2010) concludes that tribal casinos could lose up to 25 percent of annual gross gaming revenues if legalization were to occur. Controlling $28 billion in gaming revenues is a major economic accomplishment for Indians. Given our history of economic deprivation, who would have guessed that this revitalization was possible? But we should not sit idly by while $7 billion in revenues and associated jobs is given away to the competition.

Indian country response to the Internet legalization threat has been mixed. A few tribes are actively pursuing efforts to get involved in on-line gambling. They see it as simply a logical expansion of the market given technological advances. Other tribes see it as a clear threat, seeing the great potential for unknown numbers of patrons to gamble in the comfort of their own homes rather than visit the tribal casino.