"Good news for the nation's casino-developing Indian tribes. President Obama has thrown out a directive from former President George W. Bush that crippled off-reservation casino development.
Not so-good news: Financing for new casino construction remains difficult to obtain, at the same time that unemployment and poverty figures among the tribes are soaring. The Bush-era directive stated new off-reservation development would be permitted only if the project was within commuting distance. Now the Bureau of Indian Affairs said it will return to a policy that considers off-reservation casinos on a case-by-case basis. In a prepared statement, Larry Echo Hawk, assistant secretary for Indian Affairs, said the Bush administration's 2008 directive "was unnecessary and was issued without the benefit of tribal consultation." Get the Story: