Has Gaming Helped Wisconsin Indians Achieve Sovereignty and Financial Stability?

Wisconsin Indians are at the foot of the socio-economic strata. Indians, comprise only 0.5% of the entire population of the U.S. they being the smallest minority in the U.S, are still at the bottom of practically every economic disparity. As a means to alleviate their poverty, gaming came as a development and a consequence of sovereignty of Wisconsin Indians, acknowledged by the courts after decades of Indian activism and frequent episodes of robbery and genocides. The native nations were finally able to set their own rules and regulations to regulate their tribal members. Tribal casino success stems from this ability to captivate a non-Indian entertainment desire in areas where states prohibit it.

According to the statistics on Economic Impact Of Indian Gaming “Indian gaming has become the industry that tribal governments can use to overturn 150 years of federal neglect. As of February, 1997, the National Indian Gaming Commission reported there were 115 tribes with gaming class III operations and 164 tribe/state compacts in 24 states. Less than one-third of the tribes in the U.S. have gaming operations. Indian Gaming is only 5% of the entire Gaming Industry. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) mandates tribal governments, not individuals, can have gaming operations. Thus the entire proceeds of the industry go back to fund tribal government programs, just as state revenue funds state programs. States use lottery proceeds much the same way tribes use gaming proceeds. Indian gaming is providing a means to self-sufficiency for Tribal Nations, and is also creating jobs and economic activity in local non-Indian communities and states where tribal gaming operations are located. Over 120,000 direct jobs and 160,000 indirect jobs have been created nationwide. Gaming holds some hope for reducing poverty, but it is definitely not a treat as the limited and perhaps transitory success of gaming cannot quickly render null and void centuries of botched economics.