Casino Enterprise Management

Editor’s Note: Governments are important to gaming—they determine when and where legal gaming activities can take place and the rules and regulatory framework they must operate within. There are issues of taxation, licensing and the responsible implementation of gaming operations as well as educational efforts. While many gaming organizations have direct relationships with government, most, if not all, are represented by one or more of the three main gaming industry associations—the American Gaming Association, the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers and the National Indian Gaming Association. Following are three essays from the leaders of each of these respective associations detailing their role in gaming and government relations.

Indian Gaming & Tribal Governments

Ernie Stevens Jr., Chairman
National Indian Gaming Association

Gaming and government is a fitting theme to describe the history of Indian gaming and the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA).

Indian tribes governed their lands and all who entered their territories long before contact with European nations, successfully prospering with activities, including gaming and economic development. After contact, the nations of England, France and Spain acknowledged tribes as sovereigns, entering into treaties with tribes to establish commerce, trade and peace agreements.

When the United States was formed, it too recognized the governmental status of Indian tribes. The U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause specifically acknowledges tribes as distinct governments, and the Supremacy Clause provides that treaties shall be the supreme law of the land. Through hundreds of treaties with the U.S., tribes ceded hundreds of millions of acres of tribal homelands to help build this great nation. ...

To read the entire feature, please visit www.casinoenterprisemanagement.com/articles/december-2011/gaming-government.