Gambling Industry Money Is Streaming Into Albany
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Wolran Kim
September 2012
Native Americans are an impoverished people and poverty is a familiar and traditional way of their life. A 1995 national survey showed that the overall unemployment rate is more than 30 percent. The pattern of low-wage employment is typical of racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S., but Native Americans differ in areas of their roles in tourism, casino gambling, and government employment. A form of gambling, originally part of tribal celebrations, existed long before the Europeans arrived in the Western hemisphere. However, today, commercial gambling is the only viable source of employment and revenue available to several tribes. By 2008, 225 tribal governments in 28 states were operating a variety of gambling operations, and the economic impact on some reservations has been enormous, at $265 billion in 2007.
According to Kaplan’s article, the gambling industry is pouring millions of dollars into lobbying state lawmakers and donating to their campaign funds. Indian tribes, casinos and other gambling interests have spent nearly $50 million on lobbying and campaign contributions in the state since 2005, according to a new analysis by a government-reform group: They spent nearly $4 million on lobbying and more than $700,000 on campaign contributions in the first half of 2012. Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York said that this is much more than any other industry.
She pointed to the spending as an indication that the Legislature should put in place a system to finance state elections publicly and lower the contribution limits for campaign donations. According to the analysis, the largest spender was the Oneida Indian Nation, which operates the Turning Stone casino in central New York and spent $3.5 million on lobbying and campaign contributions. The Oneida spokesman said that they are going to fight for policies that they believe will help create jobs and improve New York State’s economy.
In my text book, Chapter 6 Native Americans (page 160-161), explains the more typical picture about successful gambling operations associated with tribes whose social and economic needs are overwhelming. There are three important factors that need to be considered: First, the tribes do pay $6 billion in gambling-generated taxes to local, state, and federal governments. Second, nationwide the economic and social impact of this revenue is limited. Third, even on the reservations that benefit from gambling enterprises, the levels of unemployment are substantially higher and the family income significantly lower than for the nation as a whole.
The biggest casino in the United States is not in Las Vegas, the Mecca of gambling. The Fox Woods Resort Casino in Connecticut has more area than the Department of Defense in the Pentagon, which is proud of the size of their land in the world. This casino that is located between New York City and Boston is operated by Indians. The U.S. government gave permission to them to operate the casino on Indian reservations to support the finances of those who are the underdogs in society.
They can operate their reservations independently through the casinos by providing jobs and profitable business. Commonly, casinos in the United States are divided into Indian casinos and commercial casinos. Indian casinos consist of 459 places and the commercial casinos have 492 places. Indian casino’s revenue was $26.7 billion and the commercial casino’s revenue was $35.6 billion in the last year. There is no big difference between the two casinos in terms of facilities, except that the Indian casinos are located in slightly more inconvenient places geographically than the commercial casinos.
There are 554 official registered Indian tribes in the United States and about half of them, 247 tribes, are operating casinos in 29 states. California, Connecticut, Florida, and Oklahoma Indian casinos are adjacent to densely populated areas, but Alaska and Montana casinos are in the countryside. Today’s Native business is entirely growing and is associated with Indian confidence and self-esteem. Their arts and crafts business is also commercialized beyond the level of the tourist kiosk. However, the Aboriginal unemployment rate is still high as overall it is more than 30 percent, and some reservation’s unemployment rate has reached 90 percent.
The business in casinos is one of the most successful business management options to them. So, this corrupt practice where their business earnings exit mainstream society as political capital rather than welfare for the natives should prevent institutional mechanisms. I think the issue is that Native Americans are forced to play the White man’s game of capitalism and that is the responsibility of the State government. Native Americans should be protected from politics and from being accused that the economy is in each other’s pockets.
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Wolran Kim
September 2012
Native Americans are an impoverished people and poverty is a familiar and traditional way of their life. A 1995 national survey showed that the overall unemployment rate is more than 30 percent. The pattern of low-wage employment is typical of racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S., but Native Americans differ in areas of their roles in tourism, casino gambling, and government employment. A form of gambling, originally part of tribal celebrations, existed long before the Europeans arrived in the Western hemisphere. However, today, commercial gambling is the only viable source of employment and revenue available to several tribes. By 2008, 225 tribal governments in 28 states were operating a variety of gambling operations, and the economic impact on some reservations has been enormous, at $265 billion in 2007.
According to Kaplan’s article, the gambling industry is pouring millions of dollars into lobbying state lawmakers and donating to their campaign funds. Indian tribes, casinos and other gambling interests have spent nearly $50 million on lobbying and campaign contributions in the state since 2005, according to a new analysis by a government-reform group: They spent nearly $4 million on lobbying and more than $700,000 on campaign contributions in the first half of 2012. Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York said that this is much more than any other industry.
She pointed to the spending as an indication that the Legislature should put in place a system to finance state elections publicly and lower the contribution limits for campaign donations. According to the analysis, the largest spender was the Oneida Indian Nation, which operates the Turning Stone casino in central New York and spent $3.5 million on lobbying and campaign contributions. The Oneida spokesman said that they are going to fight for policies that they believe will help create jobs and improve New York State’s economy.
In my text book, Chapter 6 Native Americans (page 160-161), explains the more typical picture about successful gambling operations associated with tribes whose social and economic needs are overwhelming. There are three important factors that need to be considered: First, the tribes do pay $6 billion in gambling-generated taxes to local, state, and federal governments. Second, nationwide the economic and social impact of this revenue is limited. Third, even on the reservations that benefit from gambling enterprises, the levels of unemployment are substantially higher and the family income significantly lower than for the nation as a whole.
The biggest casino in the United States is not in Las Vegas, the Mecca of gambling. The Fox Woods Resort Casino in Connecticut has more area than the Department of Defense in the Pentagon, which is proud of the size of their land in the world. This casino that is located between New York City and Boston is operated by Indians. The U.S. government gave permission to them to operate the casino on Indian reservations to support the finances of those who are the underdogs in society.
They can operate their reservations independently through the casinos by providing jobs and profitable business. Commonly, casinos in the United States are divided into Indian casinos and commercial casinos. Indian casinos consist of 459 places and the commercial casinos have 492 places. Indian casino’s revenue was $26.7 billion and the commercial casino’s revenue was $35.6 billion in the last year. There is no big difference between the two casinos in terms of facilities, except that the Indian casinos are located in slightly more inconvenient places geographically than the commercial casinos.
There are 554 official registered Indian tribes in the United States and about half of them, 247 tribes, are operating casinos in 29 states. California, Connecticut, Florida, and Oklahoma Indian casinos are adjacent to densely populated areas, but Alaska and Montana casinos are in the countryside. Today’s Native business is entirely growing and is associated with Indian confidence and self-esteem. Their arts and crafts business is also commercialized beyond the level of the tourist kiosk. However, the Aboriginal unemployment rate is still high as overall it is more than 30 percent, and some reservation’s unemployment rate has reached 90 percent.
The business in casinos is one of the most successful business management options to them. So, this corrupt practice where their business earnings exit mainstream society as political capital rather than welfare for the natives should prevent institutional mechanisms. I think the issue is that Native Americans are forced to play the White man’s game of capitalism and that is the responsibility of the State government. Native Americans should be protected from politics and from being accused that the economy is in each other’s pockets.
