"Given the unpleasant history of land deals involving Native Americans -- from incompetent land surveys to outright swindles and brazen thefts -- the rise of the American Indian-owned gambling casino has been an effective method for many tribes to reclaim some of that lost wealth, and a sort of karmic payback.

But even in this country there is a finite pool of suckers to be tapped, and with the proliferation of gambling into nearly every venue, the number of wells being drilled to tap that pool threatens to drain it to the point no one is pumping much money from it.

Which leaves the big question -- what next?"

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Bill Virgin: Tribes that diversify looking ahead (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 5/4)