The National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC), the federal agency that oversees the $41.9 billion tribal casino industry, could get a new leader for the first time since the Donald Trump era.

On July 23, President Joe Biden nominated Patrice H. Kunesh to serve as chair of the NIGC. The action came more than four years after the U.S. Senate confirmed the prior leader of the agency, one who had been chosen by Trump.

But even though Biden is on his way out of office, the Democratic president is getting a chance to leave his mark on the NIGC. Kunesh will go before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs for her confirmation hearing on Wednesday, a big step forward in the nomination process.

“Patrice Kunesh’s nomination holds great potential for the Indian gaming industry and tribal economies,” Rodney Butler, the chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, said on August 6. “Her deep understanding of tribal issues and proven leadership will contribute significantly to the National Indian Gaming Commission’s mission.”

“We are optimistic that her appointment will have a profound impact on Indian Country and are eager to witness her leadership in this crucial role,” said Butler, who serves as president of NAFOA, the oldest and largest tribal finance organization.

NAFOA isn’t the only tribal organization supporting Kunesh. The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) highlighted her “extensive background in tribal, state, and federal service” in an August 6 statement.

“Patrice Kunesh’s confirmation as Chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission will mark a significant step forward in strengthening the governance and oversight of Indian gaming, fostering economic development, and enhancing the sovereignty and self-determination of Tribal Nations,” NCAI said in the statement.

“We at ACF are truly committed to tribal self-determination”: Patrice Kunesh (Standing Rock), Commissioner of Administration for Native American Affairs, with Rebecca Gaston, Commissioner of Administration on Children, Youth and Families, @NCAI1944 #ECWS2024. @ACFHHS @ANA_ACFgov pic.twitter.com/jWkpusFEm9

— indianz.com (@indianz) February 13, 2024

Kunesh currently serves in a prominent position in the Biden administration, having been confirmed as the Commissioner of the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) in March 2023. In her leadership role at the Department of Health and Human Services, where she also holds the title of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Native Affairs, she oversees a number of economic development, environmental and language grant programs for American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians.

“Some of the most important work we are doing in ANA is helping to preserve and revitalize Native languages, which is central to Native identity and cultural ways of life, and integral to healing and resilience,” Kunesh said at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on May 22.

Previously, Kunesh served as Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development at the Department of Agriculture and Deputy Solicitor for Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior. She held both positions during the Barack Obama presidency.

After leaving the Obama administration, Kunesh became one of the founding co-directors of the Center for Indian Country Development, housed at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis in Minnesota. She spoke about the importance of the tribal gaming industry at an event in the nation’s capital in February 2019.

“We have tribes that have gaming are supporting the economy, are creating jobs not only for their communities, but also employing people from nearby counties,” Kunesh said, some 31 years after the passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), the federal law that ushered in the modern tribal casino era.

“And we know that tribes as self-governing nations also are running large governmental institutions providing public services to their community,” Kunesh said, pointing to the unique status of tribes as sovereign governments.

At the time, tribal gaming had grown to a $33.7 billion industry in fiscal year 2018, according to figures released by the NIGC. The following fiscal year, gross gaming revenues rose to a record $34.6 billion.

But tribes took a major hit after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Gross gaming revenues dropped to $27.8 billion in fiscal year 2020, returning the industry to levels that hadn’t been seen in two decades.

Tribal gross gaming revenues, however, have since rebounded, according to the NIGC. In June, the agency announced a record $41.9 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2023, up from $40.9 billion in fiscal year 2022 and from $39 billion in fiscal year 2021.

“Again, this year, tribal gaming operators and regulators have proven that their ingenuity and tenacity are catalysts for growth, even in the face of an ever-changing gaming landscape,” said Sharon M. Avery, who has been serving as “acting” chair of the NIGC since May 15.

“As Acting Chair, Avery has the same statutory authority to lead the Agency and take official actions as a Senate-confirmed appointee,” the NIGC said in a May 16 news release.

The NIGC consists of three members: the Chair and two Commissioners. As dictated by IGRA, only the Chair position requires nomination by the president and confirmation by the Senate. The other two members are appointed by the Secretary of the Interior.

According to IGRA, “at least” two members of the NIGC “shall be enrolled members of any Indian tribe.” Avery is a citizen of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe, according to the NIGC. She joined the agency in May following her appointment by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.

Haaland, a citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna who is the first Native person to lead the Department of the Interior, also reappointed Jeannie Hovland, who is a citizen of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, to serve on the NIGC. Hovland is a Trump-era appointee.

“I am truly honored to be appointed to serve on the Commission for a second term,” Hovland said on May 6.

Kunesh describes herself as being of “Standing Rock Lakota descent” in her official ANA biography. She has told people she is not enrolled with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe but has said in the past that her grandfather was enrolled there.

“My grandfather was born in 1902 on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota, home of the Three Affiliated Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Tribes, and he grew up in Fort Yates on the Standing Rock Reservation,” Kunesh said in her recent Senate Committee on Indian Affairs testimony.

If confirmed by the Senate, Kunesh would succeed E. Sequoyah Simermeyer as Chair of the NIGC. Simermeyer was nominated to the position by Republican former president Donald Trump and departed the agency on February 24 after more than four years on the job.

“I’ve witnessed firsthand how tribes across the Indian gaming industry have pursued economic sustainability through gaming by relying on — and cultivating — the robust regulatory reputation for which Indian gaming is well known, and made better when supported by effective and efficient measures by Indian gaming’s regulators,” Simermeyer said.

“I’m proud of the integral part this Agency has played in meeting the challenges of an evolving industry, and encouraged that NIGC’s strong cadre of professionals will continue to work hand-in-hand with gaming operations to ensure tribal gaming remains primarily for the benefit of its citizens as the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act mandated 35 years ago,” Simermeyer added.

Simermeyer is a citizen of the Coharie Tribe, a state-recognized group in North Carolina. When he worked at the Bureau of Indian Affairs during two presidential administrations, he claimed “ancestry” from the Navajo Nation but omitted the claim when he went before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs for his confirmation hearing back in July 2019.

Kunesh’s confirmation hearing takes place at 10am Eastern in Room 628 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building on Wednesday, immediately following a business meeting on four bills. A webcast will be available at indian.senate.gov.

Patrice H. Kunesh, of Standing Rock Lakota descent, has committed her career to public service, including several positions at the tribal, state, and federal level. Kunesh currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Native American Affairs and the Commissioner of the Administration for Native Americans in the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Prior to joining HHS, Kunesh worked at the Native American Rights Fund, where she began her legal career, and served as in-house Counsel to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and on the faculty at the University of South Dakota School of Law. Kunesh also held appointments as the Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as the Deputy Solicitor for Indian Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior, and as a member of the U.S. Treasury Community Development Advisory Board (CDFI Fund) as the representative for Native communities. Additionally, she established the Center for Indian Country Development, an economic policy research initiative at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Kunesh also founded Peȟíŋ Haha Consulting, a social enterprise committed to fostering culturally centered Native economic development.

Kunesh holds a J.D. from the University of Colorado School of Law and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Nomination Hearing to consider Patrice H. Kunesh, of Minnesota, to be Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission and Business meeting to consider S. 2695, S. 3857, S. 4442 & S. 4505 (September 18, 2024)