Legislation

Casino Foe: 'We've subsidized the Indians for hundreds of years'

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

The Winnebago Tribe owns and operates the WinnaVegas Casino Resort in Sloan, Iowa. The facility is located on tribal land in Iowa rather than in Nebraska due to restrictions on gaming in Nebraska. Photo from Facebook

A longtime opponent of gaming in Nebraska is voicing some interesting ideas about economic conditions in Indian Country.

Pat Loontjer of Gambling With the Good Life acknowledges that tribes are dealing with poverty and other woes. But she doesn't seem to think gaming will create jobs or other economic opportunities.

“This money is not going to just descend from Heaven. There’s going to be heartache involved in this,” Loontjer told NET News.

So if gaming isn't the answer, what is Loontjer's solution for improving economic conditions in Indian Country? People can just move away from reservations, she said.

“We’ve subsidized the Indians for hundreds of years. There’s tremendous poverty on the reservation, there’s alcoholism, there’s a lot of things where – that’s where they’ve chosen to stay, and that’s what the result was,” Loontjer told NET News.

Loontjer's group plans to fight a series of ballot initiatives that are being championed by Ho-Chunk Inc., the economic development arm of the Winnebago Tribe. If voters approve the initiatives, the company will be able to open a casino at a racetrack and create about 150 jobs.

“It’s more economic activity, more jobs, more everything. We’re dealing with six, seven generations of poverty and pulling out of that is expensive and takes effort,” Lance Morgan, a tribal member who serves as president and CEO of Ho-Chunk Inc., told Net News.

Ho-Chunk Inc. owns Indianz.Com but the website is not involved in the corporation's activities.

Get the Story:
Winnebago tribe hopes for economic boost from casino proposal (NET News 7/13)