Casino Enterprise Management

Last year, Indian Country recognized the anniversary of the landmark decision in the 1987 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians and Morongo Band. A significant turning point in our history, the decision was a successful end to the two California tribes’ fight for their sovereign right to create economic opportunity on their reservations.

It is the question at the center of almost every business deal and public outreach campaign. It is the favored response from troublesome youngsters to parental pleas that household chores need to be done. A phrase as old as time, Adam is said to have muttered it when encouraged by Eve to chomp into a certain forbidden apple. That question is, of course, “What’s in it for me?”

Read news from Native America from April 2008 including why some Arizona casinos will be allowed to add more slot machines, a development plan for a casino in Mississippi and about a nationwide 12-year-old land trust lawsuit.

For decades Buffalo, N.Y., has been in a near-perpetual state of economic malaise, the victim of a slow decline in the Northeast industrial base that stretched from central Pennsylvania through New England. For more than 30 years, manufacturers downsized, shut down altogether or moved overseas, leaving the rusting hulks of their factories behind — along with a sizeable population of unemployed blue-collar workers.

Read about Native American Gaming news, with stories such as new compacts for slot machines in California, the National Indian Gaming Commission's economic impact study in connection with its proposed Class II gaming regulations and information about a development project in Oklahoma.

For many tribal governments, gaming revenues represent the majority of governmental operating budgets, which provide critical infrastructure and vital services to millions of tribal members. With more than money at stake in the Indian Gaming industry, tribal leaders are keenly aware of the need to protect the integrity and honesty of their gaming facilities. These training programs ensure that protection is done right.

See news and happenings from around the U.S. in Indian country from February 2008 including Connecticut's union battle at Foxwoods, about Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma’s Kansas City casino and why Erie County Executive Chris Collins revealed he is removing the county as a party to the two ongoing lawsuits in federal court aimed at stopping the development of the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino project.

This April, thousands of Native people will visit San Diego, Calif., for the National Indian Gaming Association’s (NIGA) 17th Annual Tradeshow and membership meeting. As the largest tradeshow in the industry, we will have another chance to learn from our peers and colleagues about what’s working in Indian Gaming and where our future is headed.

As Indian Gaming continues to thrive in America, tribes are witnessing an amazing transformation. Gaming has lifted many American Indians out of decades of poverty and destitution, and is now fueling economies that provide a wealth of needed services to tribal members. American Indian tourism creates a forum for cultural expression through industry.

Wants news from Native America? Read what's happening in Native American gaming here with references to California's compact votes, Connecticut's union contracts and why a Wisconsin tribe is taking the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to court over a casino project in Beloit.