Indian gaming and beyond: tribal economic development and diversification

South Dakota Law Review, Fall, 2009 by Alan P. Meister, Kathryn R.L. Rand, Steven Andrew Light

A. THE ENDS OF THE SPECTRUM

Gaming is a major source of government revenue for many tribes. Yet annual revenue among the 425 tribal casinos across the United States ranges from more than $1 billion to less than $3 million. (81) As noted above, in 2007, just 6% of tribal gaming operations earned more than $250 million, accounting for nearly 42% of the total industry revenue. On the other end of the spectrum, over half of all tribal gaming facilities earned $25 million or less, and one out of every seven casinos earned less than $3 million. (82)

In terms of simple economics, this spectrum of success for tribal casinos is explained in large part by the old saw of "location, location, location"--one merely need compare a rural bingo hall on the Great Plains to a Las Vegas-style casino near major metropolitan areas, such as the phenomenally successful Connecticut casinos, Foxwoods Resort Casino, owned by the Mashantucket Pequots, and Mohegan Sun, owned by the Mohegan Tribe. For some, though, the uneven distribution of gaming profits among tribes is evidence of failed federal policy. Time magazine's December 2002 cover story, "Wheel of Misfortune," highlighted the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota as an example of "needy Native Americans" left behind by IGRA. (83) According to the article, the tribe's individual members did not benefit "at all" from Indian gaming because the modest profits of the tribe's Prairie Wind Casino would have amounted to "a daily stipend of just 16 cents for each of the 41,000 tribe members." (84)

But, as Congress intended, tribal success may take more forms than mere profits as calculated in cash payments to individual tribal members (known as per capita payments). (85) Even modest casino profits may serve federal and tribal goals of building strong tribal governments, encouraging tribal self-sufficiency, and improving the quality of reservation life. (86) Tribal casinos also provide jobs and wages, in many cases to a high proportion of tribal members. In addition, even when tribal profits are not redistributed via per capita payments, gaming revenue still benefits tribal members, as IGRA requires tribes to use gaming revenue to fund tribal government operations or programs, provide for the general welfare of their members, and promote tribal economic development. (87) As John Yellow Bird Steele, then President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, said in response to the Time magazine story, "Our gaming facility is not among the largest, but we would be hard pressed to replace the jobs and revenue that gaming generates." (88)

B. INDIAN GAMING IN SOUTH DAKOTA

Indian gaming in South Dakota shares many similarities with Indian gaming in North Dakota. (89) Like tribes in North Dakota, the nine tribes with land in South Dakota--the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, the Flandreau-Santee Sioux Tribe, the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, the Oglala Sioux Tribe, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and the Yankton Sioux Tribe--have long histories of government-to-government relations with the United States, along with strong traditions of tribal identity and sovereignty that continue to shape the tribes' priorities as well as intergovernmental relations with state and federal government.