Indian gambling in the United States is big business. Since Congress passed an Indian gambling law in 1988, the industry has grown to the point where more than 220 tribes in 28 states raked in $18.5 billion last year. That’s about twice the take from Las Vegas’ glittering casinos.
While the spread of the slots may give pause to some Americans, many observers think Indian gambling has been a boon to Native Americans.
Indian law expert I. Nelson Rose calls the gambling law of 1988 “the best thing to happen to tribes in 50 years,’ adding that it’s strengthened tribal governments and advanced economic development.
Mark Van Norman, executive director of the National Indian Gaming Association, told The Post recently that more than 400 tribal casinos and related businesses have created more than 553,000 jobs.
But if you thought only tribes are getting rich from casinos, you would be wrong.
Take the case of the proposed casino-resort development near Denver International Airport. Regulators have ruled that developers of a proposed Cheyenne-Arapaho casino negotiated “excessive compensation’ with the tribes.
The National Indian Gaming Commission said that under the proposed deal between the Native American Land Group and the tribes, the group would receive 39 percent of the casino’s net revenues during the first six years and 29 percent over the next six years. (After those 12 years, all profit would go to the tribes.) Golden businessman Steve Hillard runs the group, which includes Indian and non-Indian investors.
(The development was born a few years ago after Hillard’s company, Council Tree Communications, pitched the tribes on communications investments. The discussion eventually turned to gambling.)
The commission said the deal amounts to an illegal ownership interest.
“The development agreement enables NALG to collect large amounts of money, over a potentially lengthy period of time, for doing nothing – performing no ongoing services for the tribes and … giving the tribes nothing in return,’ wrote commission acting counsel Penny J. Coleman.
Hillard brushes off the ruling as just an opening gambit, and says the tribes wanted the arrangement.
The Denver plan is part of a national trend of tribes pushing for casinos in or near metro areas. “We’re on exactly the same plan as we were on Day One – which is to move patiently forward,’ Hillard said.
Opponents of expanded gambling in Colorado, like Gov. Bill Owens, need to be equally patient and very vigilant.
