CBS commentator Andy Roonie recently complained to his audience of millions
that, "If American Indians are so poor," he offered a "great idea. The
Indian casinos should help the Indians and they would't be so poor." Roonie
delivered this remark with a sneer, like he caught the Indians doing
something bad. We offer this recent selection from "Native Americas -
Akwe:kon's Journal of Indigenous Issues," Cornell University, to enlighten
the topic.
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Indian Gaming and Indian Poverty
According to a report entitled Survey of Grant Giving by American Indian
Foundations and Organizations recently released by Native Americans in
Philanthropy (NAP), gaming on Indian reservations has yet to significantly
lower the high levels of poverty endemic to Indian people nationwide. The
report found that poverty among Indians has actually risen during the past
decade of the gaming boom, and now more than half of all reservation
Indians live below the poverty level-more than four times the national
average.
The findings refute the notion that Indians "have struck it rich" over the
past few years. According to the report, among the reasons for this
disparity between perception and reality is that "the big success stories
in gaming are the exceptions rather than the rule." In 1993, out of more
than 200 tribes with gaming establishments, two tribes-the Mashantucket
Pequots and the Shakopee Sioux-accounted for almost a third of the $2.6
billion in gaming revenues. The 100 tribes with the smallest casinos and
bingo halls averaged less than $5 million apiece that same year (see fig. 1).
Small tribes located near major urban areas have benefited the most from
the gaming boom. For many of them gaming has reduced or eliminated
unemployment and has provided a substitute for shrinking federal funds.
However, the combined population of the three most successful gaming
reservations is less than 500. The ten largest reservations, where 218,000
of the 437,000 reservation Indians live, have, with only one exception,
seen an increase in poverty during the 1980s. The one exception, the Hopi
reservation, does not have a gambling operation (see fig. 2). For the
country as a whole, the percentage of Indians living on reservations who
live below the poverty rate has increased from 45 percent of the population
in 1980 to 51 percent today.
Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, in a recent letter to the New
York Times, noted that the isolation of many Native communities precluded a
viable gaming operation: "In Alaska, home to 85,000 Native Americans, 80
percent of the villages cannot be reached by roads. Navajos in Chinle,
Ariz. must drive 70 miles across the reservation to reach a bank." The NAP
report also noted that the needs of reservation Indians are so great that,
"even if, for the sake of argument, all the Indian gaming revenue in the
country could be divided equally among all the Indians in the country, the
amount distributed ($3,000 per person) would still not be enough to raise
Indian per-capita income (currently $4,500) to anywhere near the national
average of $14,400." Furthermore, gaming revenues are not a true indicator
of wealth because "gaming revenues represent gross income; while some
Indian gaming operations are spectacularly successful, with a profit margin
of up to 40% of revenues, most are only marginally profitable."
The NAP survey found that those tribes with successful operations are
currently unable to help other reservations. Among the reasons was that
gaming tribes are simply "not structurally organized to be grantmakers -
very few tribes have foundations. Any request for money must go through
their government decision-making process, a process that has many checks
and balances."
NATIVE AMERICAS
Akwe:kon's Journal of Indigenous Issues
First Place
General Excellence Magazine
Native American Journalists Association
1996
Native Americas Magazine
c/o Akwe:kon Press
American Indian Program
Cornell University
300 Caldwell Hall
Ithaca, New York 14853-2602
Homepage http://nativeamericas.aip.cornell.edu/
E-mail native_americas@cornell.edu
Tel 800.9.NATIVE
607.255.4308
Fax 607.255.0185