Casino Enterprise Management

Sharon House

Attorney At Law

There is no doubt about it, Sharon House is one of the strong driving forces behind the Indian gaming industry, and many admire her work and dedication to it.

There are numerous examples of work she’s done to advance the industry. She served as an attorney for the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin—her own tribe—for approximately 20 years, specializing in Indian law, gaming, regulation, corporations, financing and more. House was also on the negotiating team for the Oneida Tribe of Indians, negotiating two state gaming compacts and on the compact negotiating team for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of Idaho. She has worked with the Attorney Work Group and Task Force of the California Tribal/State Class III Gaming Compact Association, which is composed of tribal regulators, and the California Gambling Control Commission and the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) and National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) Task Force to negotiate and limit IGRA amendments. She has served as legal counsel with the National Tribal Gaming Commissioners/ Regulators (NTGC/R), co-chaired the Minimum Internal Control Standards tribal work group for NIGA and NCAI, and also sat on the first board of “Women’s Participation in the Bar,” State Bar of Wisconsin. House currently provides legal services for a number of tribal gaming commissions.

She says some of the accomplishments she’s most proud of are being a part of the compact negotiation teams that resulted in signed tribal/state Class III compacts and being a part of the gaming regulatory agencies that were instrumental in the initial formulation of the NTGC/R. She is very proud of being a part of the team that drafted the first judicial forum for the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, the Appeals Commission.   

House was admitted to practice law in 1984 in the state of Wisconsin and the Seventh Circuit Court of appeals in 1985. She is a graduate of Black Hills State University and the University of Wisconsin Law School.

“After receiving my undergraduate degree, I began raising a family on the Oneida reservation, where I began working with the old CAP program in Oneida,” House explains. “There was no gaming at that time. I had always wanted to come back and work for my tribe during college, and also wanted to be an attorney, but family obligations limited my going to law school.”

House has six children (Kody, Corby, Yuma, Crystal, Rhiannon and Tsyoslake) and 13 grandchildren, and says she herself grew up with a stable family life. “I attended boarding school when I turned 12 years old and was lucky enough to have attended the only Indian girls boarding school in the U.S. I attended school with girls from many different tribes, and I believe this experience enhanced my respect for different cultures.”

Serving for one’s country was a value impressed in House’s family early on. “My father was a prisoner of war and survived the Bataan Death March of WWII,” she explains, “and he instilled in me survival and persistence and the importance of the military and the respect that our military should receive.” Three of House’s own sons are veterans.

While crediting her children as one of her proudest personal accomplishments, she also says graduating law school meant a lot to her. “That was extremely difficult for me because I was never that fond of school,” she reflected. “In addition, I had my fifth child during my first year of law school during the semester break.” Though this was a challenge for her, she received much help from her family and extended family, especially her mother who she says taught her how to be a parent.

Another challenge House talks about is being a woman raised in a matrilineal society and providing legal services to tribes that are primarily patrilineal. “But this challenge also extended to the non-Indian gaming environment,” she says, “because there were not many woman attorneys when I graduated from law school. I have attempted to overcome this challenge by trying to be reserved. This has been very difficult because I have been known to be opinionated.”

What attracted House to the gaming industry was being the actual recipient of the benefits that gaming provided to her tribe and family on a daily basis, as well as the opportunity for education, housing, health care, social services, and knowing that gaming could bring a greater degree of economic independence for all tribes.

One of the things she likes most is that the gaming industry provides the opportunity for other industries to thrive in conjunction with gaming, such as hotel/hospitality and the entertainment industry, as well as being a training ground for these additional occupations.

Though she’s a great woman all on her own, House still gives credit to her mentors. “I have worked with and known tribal elders who have helped me keep balance in my life by reminding me to reflect upon the importance of my heritage, culture and my humor while trying to survive in a fast-paced society,” House said of the first chairwoman of the Oneida Tribe, Irene Moore.

Further proof House is a tireless advocate of Indian gaming: We received a nomination letter from the chairman of NIGA himself, Ernie Stevens Jr. He writes: “Despite her many achievements, House has remained a humble person, always putting a strong emphasis on family and community. That is why she is so well loved by her people at home and by Indian people throughout the U.S. For these reasons, she richly deserves to be recognized as a Great Woman of Gaming.”

But we don’t have to take his word for it (though we do)—throughout the various other letters and recommendations we got on her behalf, it is evident she is strongly admired, respected and extremely deserving of this honor. AH