{"id":470712,"date":"2026-03-30T00:00:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T05:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=470712"},"modified":"2026-05-18T22:39:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T03:39:29","slug":"native-america-callling-understanding-the-jack-abramoff-indian-gaming-scandal-25-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2026\/03\/30\/native-america-callling-understanding-the-jack-abramoff-indian-gaming-scandal-25-years-later\/","title":{"rendered":"Native America Calling: Understanding the Jack Abramoff Indian gaming scandal 25 years later"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"card mb-2\">\r\n  <div class=\"row\">\r\n    <div class=\"col-md-4 align-self-center\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/nativeamericacalling.jpg\" class=\"img-fluid\" alt=\"native america calling\"\/>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"col-md-8\">\r\n      <div class=\"card-body\">\r\n        <div class=\"h5-responsive card-title\">Native America Calling<\/div>\r\n        <div>\r\n           Listen to Native America Calling every weekday at 1pm Eastern.\r\n        <\/div>\r\n        <div>\r\n          <!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\r\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-1859-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/playerservices.streamtheworld.com\/api\/livestream-redirect\/NV1.mp3\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/playerservices.streamtheworld.com\/api\/livestream-redirect\/NV1.mp3\">http:\/\/playerservices.streamtheworld.com\/api\/livestream-redirect\/NV1.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>\r\n\t\t\tAlternate Links: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nv1.org\/\">Native Voice One<\/a> |\r\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nativeamericacalling.com\/\">NAC<\/a>\r\n\t\t\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"h3-responsive font-weight-bold\"><\/div>\r\n<div class=\"date\">Monday, March 30, 2026<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"source-links\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nativeamericacalling.com\/\"><i class=\"fas fa-link fa-xs\"><\/i> nativeamericacalling.com<\/a>\r\n&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/nativeamericacalling\/\"><i class=\"fab fa-instagram fa-xs\"><\/i> nativeamericacalling<\/a>\r\n&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/nativeamericacalling\"><i class=\"fab fa-facebook fa-xs\"><\/i> nativeamericacalling<\/a>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<div class=\"h5-responsive sub\">\r\nUnderstanding the Jack Abramoff Indian gaming scandal 25 years later\r\n<\/div>\r\nIn the early 2000s, an investigation found a handful of tribes in at least four states were paying exorbitant fees to a lobbying firm headed by <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jack_Abramoff\">Jack Abramoff<\/a>. \r\n<p><\/p>\r\nThe tribes were looking to gain ground in the rapidly evolving Native gaming political landscape. The investigation and the resulting fraud and bribery trials would convict Abramoff and a dozen others, including congressional staffers, in a scheme that totaled at least $80 million. \r\n<p><\/p>\r\nOne tribal official called them &#8220;the contemporary faces of the exploitation of Native peoples.&#8221; While he was taking their money, Abramoff privately referred to the tribal officials he was dealing with as \u201cmonkeys\u201d and \u201cmorons.\u201d A Blackfeet tribal member was instrumental in exposing Abramoff\u2019s crimes. \r\n<p><\/p>\r\nTune into Native America Calling look back at this significant event in tribal gaming history and what has changed in the 25 years since.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<div class=row><div class=col-6>\r\n<img src=https:\/\/indianz.com\/news\/images\/abramoff092904b.jpg>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=col-6> \r\n<img src=https:\/\/indianz.com\/news\/images\/abramoff092904.jpg>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<div class=\"h5-responsive sub\">Guests on Native America Calling<\/div>\r\nPhilip Hogen (Oglala Lakota), former chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission and of counsel for Hogen Adams PLLC\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nTom \u201cOne Who Rides His Horse East\u201d Rodgers (Blackfeet), founder of Carlyle Consulting and named one of Politico\u2019s most powerful people on race, culture and politics in 2023\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nMonica Lubiarz-Quigley, attorney and former lawyer for the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-radius:12px\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/show\/4RE6juPYr7cl2Zsmb2zjq7?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"232\" frameBorder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\"><\/iframe>\r\n<figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">All Episodes on <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/4RE6juPYr7cl2Zsmb2zjq7?si=2a56e59533534bf9\">Spotify<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nativeamericacalling.com\/subscribe-to-podcast\/\">More Options<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n<img src=https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/nativeamericacalling.jpg width=0 height=0 class=invisible>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two decades ago, the political world was consumed by the Jack Abramoff tribal lobbying scandal. What has changed since?","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":338,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[67,13,1,14],"tags":[101,346,7320,410,217,243,523,7322,133,505,7321,134,4951,4126],"class_list":["post-470712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indian-gaming","category-law","category-national","category-politics","tag-crime","tag-dc","tag-jack-abramoff","tag-law-firms","tag-lobbying","tag-media","tag-michigan","tag-monica-lubiarz-quigley","tag-native-america-calling","tag-nigc","tag-philip-hogen","tag-radio","tag-sagchip","tag-tom-rodgers","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-1Ys8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/nativeamericacalling.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470712"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":537061,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470712\/revisions\/537061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}