For centuries, federal and state governments have posed numerous problems for Native Americans. In 1988, when the federal government passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, life changed for many on tribal lands.
Ernie Stevens, Jr. has been married for 28 years, is as a father of five, and a grandfather of four. With a large family and a community-centered focus, this three-term chair of the National Indian Gaming Association has learned the importance of strong leadership and how to be a great team player. Through education and support of Indian Gaming, Stevens hopes to create opportunities for a better life for Native Americans.
CEM: Describe your passion for NIGA and the source of your energy that fuels the fight for Indian Country.
Stevens: When I was a young man, our people were struggling to develop economic opportunity. I was really into basketball, and the tribe decided to use our gym for bingo.
As an athlete, I wanted more court time. The ladies that ran the organization took to the time to help me understand that without bingo, we wouldn’t be able to keep the lights on, and as bingo took off, I then saw how it would eventually fund basic government services, including education, health care, police, and fire protection. Perhaps most importantly, we were creating jobs on our reservation for our people. It changed people’s lives for the better.
Later, the tribe was able to purchase a hotel and build a casino. Among other things, gaming revenues funded our Oneida Turtle School, where our children learn the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic, and they also learn Oneida history, culture, and language. Our community wanted it to be more than just another school but one dedicated to blending the best of standard educational practices, with state of the art technology and integrating the traditional values that have served us and given meaning to our lives by keeping us connected to our ancestors. So, as I was growing up, I saw firsthand what Indian Gaming can do to create a brighter future for our people.
My father, Ernest Stevens, Sr., was a leading figure in Indian affairs in Washington, D.C. in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and he always had a vision for Indian self-sufficiency through economic development. He was one of the founders of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. He always told me that as American Indians, we need to create our own jobs so that we could control and direct our own economy to make a better life for our people on the reservations.
Today, Indian Gaming is beginning to fulfill that vision for many Indian Tribes around the country. Over the years, I developed my own vision from what my dad taught me and from other tribal leaders. Now, we are honored to have the chance to serve Indian people through our work at NIGA. Yes, as a lot has changed in Indian Country from my dad’s early years, but whether it’s tribes who continue to look for economic opportunities, or tribes who have found success in economic development, we have to continue to build and take Indian Gaming to the next level.
CEM: How does NIGA assist all of its members in achieving success (whether economic, social, political, or otherwise)?
Stevens: NIGA’s mission is to support Indian Gaming and defend Indian sovereignty. In Washington, we work to assure the federal government continues to honor its treaty obligations to respect tribal self-government. Indian Gaming is an essential exercise of Indian sovereignty intended to build strong tribal governments, and by working together, our member tribes protect the fabric of Indian sovereignty.
In carrying out its responsibilities to its members and Indian Country, NIGA provides a forum for tribal governments and elected tribal leaders to come together and share their concerns, ideas, and vision. Working together, we forge a united approach to the challenges that face Indian Country and Indian Gaming. So, together with our sister organization, the National Congress of American Indians, we stand strong with our regional associations and other national tribal groups in Washington D.C. Gaming has given us the opportunity to add substance to Indian Country priorities of uniting in support of our sovereign rights.
Naturally, we are active in the Indian Gaming industry, and we work with our business leaders and regulators to educate folks about the best practices. Our Indian Gaming industry is still young, so our people have developed cutting-edge strategies and world-class facilities. There’s a real dynamic energy when Indian Tribes come together to discuss how we can continue to respect our time-honored traditions, even as we break new ground in rebuilding tribal economies. So now, after almost 20 years, we are proud that through our education, training, seminars, national conferences, and experiences, we have developed our own expertise that rivals or exceeds industry standards in gaming. More than that, we are taking our places as credible contemporaries in local and state governments as well as the business community.
CEM: What is the overall impact of Indian Gaming on tribal members?
Stevens: First of all, we know we have acquired more jobs in much of Indian Country. With more than $25 billion in gross revenues, Indian Gaming now generates more than 650,000 jobs in the national economy.
The difference between a job and unemployment is a major life improvement for the whole family. We have seen medical journal studies that show many of our children are now better adjusted and suffer less from attention deficits and depression. We are also making great strides in elderly care, diabetes, tuberculosis, and other debilitating health care issues. We have been effective in shifting our communities from a culture of poverty and neglect to vigorous participants with a stake in the American way of life. That we are able to do this without diminishing our traditional communal values is nothing short of miraculous. Gaming has given us the means to strengthen ourselves, our communities and to contribute to the larger society in which we live.
Furthermore, we now have a chance to reinvest in our communities. For example, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota built two schools. The Oneida Nation of Wisconsin built its Turtle School to reflect Oneida culture, and the Mescalero Apache built a new K-12 school. Apart from the schools themselves, we have been able to provide state of the art equipment and instruction, and faculty training. We have more of our own teachers and administrators all of whom are certified, competent and computer-literate. Giving our children the background to compete in higher education and beyond is becoming an increasing fact on our reservations and I’m proud of the part NIGA has played in that.
The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community in Arizona built a dialysis clinic, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma built a hospital, and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community in Minnesota built a family birthing clinic. The Pueblo of Santa Ana in New Mexico recently completed a water system to provide service to its communities, and the Yankton Sioux Tribe in South Dakota built a new water tower. These are just a few examples of the great change that has impacted Indian Country through gaming.
Tribal governments also use gaming revenues to provide essential services, such as education and health care to all tribal members, from toddlers in daycare to grandmothers in eldercare programs. Police and fire protection extends to non-Indians on and near the Reservation as well by means of cross-deputization agreements tribes enter into with local governments. Such agreements are a reflection of the respect other governments now accord Tribes. Cooperative multi-jurisdictional law enforcement benefits all citizens and is based upon the requirement that Tribal police are trained in the same academies and must meet the same criteria to qualify as any other law enforcement officer. So, in this, police standards are enhanced tribal law enforcement.
The Tohono O’odham Nation in Arizona uses gaming revenue to fund security and safety issues along this country’s border. The Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians in California use gaming revenue to fund its fire department, which responds to frequent wildfires in nearby communities. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota use gaming revenue to provide school clothes for students who need assistance at the start of each school year.
Neighboring communities see the benefits of Indian Gaming as well. Indian Gaming creates thousands of jobs for non-Indians. By increasing state and local income tax revenues, Indian Gaming provides funding for public schools, hospitals, and roads in neighboring non-Indian communities. Tribes have also been generous in providing support through intergovernmental agreements and charitable contributions to local communities.
Tribes also use Indian Gaming revenue as a catalyst to spur economic growth. The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska created Ho-Chunk, Inc., which provides more than 500 American jobs through economic diversification into grocery stores, housing construction, and high-tech communications.
The Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma has grown its workforce from 250 to more than 8,400 employees, providing services both nationwide and worldwide, including banking, construction, property management, information technology, medical services, manufacturing, and retail. The Seminole Tribe of Florida boosted its workforce to 17,000, with 7,000 people employed in gaming and 10,000 people employed in related tribal enterprises.
It is clear to me that economic diversity is fast becoming a key concept in Indian Country.
CEM: How has the National Gambling Impact Study influenced Indian Gaming?
Stevens: The National Gambling Impact Study Commission was created in 1996 as P. L. 104-169 by the Clinton administration to determine the effects of all forms of gaming in the United States, including Indian Gaming. It was composed of nine commissioners; three appointed by the administration, three by the Senate leadership and three by the House. NIGA participated in the study by encouraging its member Tribes to testify at hearings of the commission. Indian testimony was crucial in educating the public and the commission about the benefits of Indian Gaming, both by providing tribal leaders a forum to educate the commission itself through public hearings and through its report, which recognizes that Indian Gaming is the most significant economic development tool that has worked broadly in Indian Country. This study also recognized that Indians had very little opportunity but gaming from which to support governmental services for their reservations compared to local and state governments’ taxing authority.
Nowhere in the final report was there any reference to the inability or unwillingness of tribes to regulate gaming, any infiltration of organized crime, or other negative effects of this industry. The NGISC Final Report was made to Congress and the president on June 18, 1999, as required by the law that created the commission after which it went out of existence.
While there are other issues that brought that study forward, the study highlighted other economic issues in Indian Country, and since that study, Indian Gaming has continued to make a significant difference. So, it is clear that despite the intent of this Commission, Indian Gaming was strengthened by its published findings. To me the final report was an unsolicited testimonial that tribal governments are doing their job.
CEM: What else is NIGA working on to raise public awareness of Indian Gaming and tribal concerns?
Stevens: We are active in the industry, working with business leaders to promote best practices. We try to establish different forms of networking. We continually promote our statistics and studies, such as the 2005 Economic Impact Report and our website.
Just getting out there and speaking to the American people about what we are doing—and providing statistics about how Indian Gaming has changed not only the face of Indian Country, but has created 600,000 jobs that are not limited to Indian people. Much of the ignorance NIGA addresses about Indian Gaming focuses on issues of regulation. So, because Indian Gaming is regulated by tribal governments, we have taken the responsibility to educate legislatures and the public about how Indian Gaming not only impacts and strengthens the values of our culture, traditions, and who we are in this world, it also clarifies our relationships with state and local governments and communities through formal written compacts as well.
CEM: Describe your hardest battles fought on the state and federal level.
Stevens: Our hardest battles are always about education. We have many champions who support tribal governments; however, without taking the time to visit with tribal leaders or come to Indian Country, many new congressmen and senators may not recognize the foundations of tribal government and history of sovereignty Indian Gaming and Indian tribes. After the November elections, we are preparing, and have begun, to educate our country’s new leaders, including those recently elected into Congress and State legislatures about what we are doing in this industry and how it benefits us both.
Many people don’t know that the Constitution recognizes Indian Tribes as governments, with treaty-protected rights. They don’t know that tribal governments have entered into 228 Tribal-State Compacts with 23 states, or that tribal governments pay over $320 million each year to regulate Indian Gaming: $245 million for tribal government regulation pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act; $65 million to reimburse state regulators acting pursuant to Tribal-State Compacts; and $12 million for the National Indian Gaming Commission’s federal regulatory budget.
So, educating Congress is our first priority. When we educate Congress, they understand our need to protect the integrity of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
For example, last year, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee proposed to establish a federal contract approval requirement for gaming related contracts. That would have been very tough on tribal governments because it would have put a federal agency, the NIGC, between tribes and the free market. Congress would not do that to anyone else, so when we educated senators about the difficulties with that proposal, it was ultimately dropped.
With each session, however, there are new senators and congressmen, so it always comes back to the beginning: Education about Indian Tribes and Indian sovereignty.
CEM: Describe NIGA’s relationship with the NIGC.
Stevens: NIGA has a cordial, professional working relationship with the NIGC. We understand that Chair Hogen, Commissioner Choney, and their staff are well qualified people trying to do a good job on behalf of Indian Country. Naturally, there is a different perspective from the tribal government vantage than from the federal government view. You’ve probably heard the old expression, “We’re from the federal government, and we are here to help you.” Well, I am sure that many federal officials hold that view in good faith, yet tribal government officials—just like state officials—must always guard their governmental prerogatives from federal encroachment. So, despite the fact that we work cooperatively, when we can, I am constantly aware of the bottom line: I represent tribal governments, and NIGC are federal officials. NIGA has the utmost respect for the goals of NIGC and their legal authority for carrying out their role; however, we are vigilant in our dealings with the commission and do not hesitate to bring issues to their attention when they are overstepping their boundaries. To this end, NIGA has appeared at each and every field hearing that the commission has engaged in as they attempt to garner support in Indian Country for these unnecessary proposals.
CEM: If approved, how will the proposed Class II changes impact Indian Gaming?
Stevens: We are working with the NIGC to make sure that the proposal is changed to respect the five Federal Court of Appeals decisions that tribal governments have won in Class II cases. We are very hopeful that NIGC will substantially change its proposed regulation to bring it into line with these cases, or leave it alone, so tribes can continue to operate under the existing regulations. We have done everything within the letter and spirit of IGRA, and we will continue to stand by our tribes, so their economic success is not undermined or eliminated by regulations never intended by law and which will be ineffective, time consuming, and costly for everyone. For example, the proposed regulations would become another cumbersome, inefficient barrier for Tribal gaming enterprises.
CEM: What goals do you have for your association?
Stevens: I have always maintained that our goal at NIGA is to support Indian Gaming and protect Indian sovereignty. Today Indian Gaming and Indian sovereignty form the foundation for job growth, essential tribal government services, and tribal economic development. NIGA’s success validates this premise and we intend to continue in this direction.
When we protect Indian sovereignty, we support Indian Gaming and safeguard the legal and political foundation for Indian Gaming. Our goal is to make sure that Congress respects the progress that tribes are making through Indian Gaming and does not pass measures that would interfere with tribal success.
We also have a goal to ensure that our member tribes receive the best training and technical assistance through our NIGA Seminar Institute and our intertribal EagleIntel Network. As the industry grows, we are always working to stay on the leading edge of technical, operational, and management developments.
Naturally, we want to make sure that all Indian Tribes have an opportunity to share in the success of Indian Gaming, so we are building an American Indian Business Network, where Indian Tribes do business with sister tribes. We will feature a series of economic development conferences throughout this year to move our network forward, and we’ll be showcasing the positive growth of Indian business at our trade show.
CEM: What does NIGA hope to accomplish at the Indian Gaming Trade Show and Convention this March?
Stevens: Our 16th annual Conference and Trade Show, which will be held on March 25-28, 2007 in Phoenix, Ariz., will be really exciting. With business development and diversification as key topics of discussion among tribal leaders, we expect that we will have between 6,000 and 7,000 visitors and 750 vendors.
In addition to industry finance, the trade show will highlight best practices for gaming and hotel management, procurement, gaming integrity, security, regulation, entertainment, and the latest products. A tribal leader track will focus on key congressional and regulatory developments and the challenges that face Indian Gaming.
This year, we have really had dynamic developments in Indian Gaming, from the Seminole Tribe’s $1 billion purchase of Hard Rock International to Mashantucket Pequot’s $700 million strategic alliance with MGM, the opening of Mohegan Sun’s Pocono Downs, Agua Caliente’s $230 million hotel financing, and Sycuan’s purchase of the U.S. Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego.
Indian Tribes are on the move, and attendees can polish up their resumes with training certificates in the areas most important to them, from IT to marketing, food and beverage, and table games. If your readers are interested in our trade show, I encourage them to visit us at: www.indiangaming.org.
CEM: As a three-term chair, what accomplishments are you most proud of?
Stevens: I am most proud of the fact that NIGA has supported the Indian Gaming industry, which has grown from $12 billion to $25 billion. This has been used to develop the new schools, hospitals, clinics, police and fire stations, cultural centers, childcare, and elderly programs to which I referred earlier.
So, I’m proud of what our tribes do. Our work is to maintain the legal, political, and technical foundation for the industry, and I’m always proud to have an opportunity to work for Indian people, so they can continue to build a brighter future for the generations to come.
While our record reflects a tremendous amount of success and growth, we couldn’t accomplish our efforts without many long hours, hard work, and stress. But it is family, tribal support, and most importantly the unity asserted by the tribal leadership nationwide, that helps us to prevail.
CEM: Finally, what can NIGA members and industry leaders do to continue to support Indian Gaming?
Stevens: People need to work hard to network and celebrate our success in the industry, and then work even harder to get ready for the next round.
The 2005 Economic Impact Report assists in developing our statistics and recognition. When we speak of our success, people can directly see how Indian Gaming generates revenue to support Indian communities.
There are many states and congressional districts that do not have Indian Tribes, and so we find a challenge in their education. We like to try to send out our 2005 Economic Impact Report and other materials that explain the background: Indian Tribes were here first, tribal governments have always exercised their right to self-government over Indian land, and Indian Gaming is part of that.
These concepts are reflected in the Constitution, and so we like to use this knowledge as a baseline to build a greater understanding that tribes must provide the full spectrum of government services for a community.
Tribes vary in size from 500,000 people of the Navajo Nation to smaller tribes with 100 or 200 people, but yet we all struggle to make our homeland livable places where we all can have jobs, raise our families, and maintain tribal traditions and communities.
In 2005, tribal governments generated:
• $22.6 billion in gross revenue from Indian Gaming
• $2.7 billion in gross revenue from related hospitality and entertainment services
• 600,000 jobs nationwide for American Indians and their neighbors
• $7.6 billion in Federal taxes and revenue savings
Source: Indian Gaming 2005 Economic Impact Report
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