The National Indian Gaming Association is celebrating its 30th anniversary this month, a milestone that was noted at the NIGA Mid-Year Conference held November 2-4 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, an event covered by Indian Country Today.
At the ‘Tribal Gaming Has a Unique History and Purpose’ panel NIGA Chairman Ernie Stevens Jr. declared, “This esteemed panel has worked hard all of their lives and have made many sacrifices for Indian Country so that we can enjoy the benefits that Indian gaming provides for our communities today. I hope all of you know how important the message of this panel is, it will document where we have come from and will provide the lessons we need to remember as we go forward.”
The panel included attorney Sharon House, of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, who began on a Regulatory Task Force that developed minimum internal controls for Indian gaming. It met on reservations so it could see the needs of casinos first hand and meet with tribal members. Her task force negotiated regulations with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, with state attorney generals, state governors and congressional leaders for over a year.
House said, “What it came down to was the other parties asking, ‘’What do you want?’ It was much simpler than they could understand. It wasn’t to get rich. We told them we wanted sewers and indoor bathrooms like everybody else. They finally ‘got it.’ From that point on, the negotiations went much smoother.”
Another panelist was Kurt Bluedog, an attorney for the Fond Du Lac Tribe in the days when Indian gaming was in its infancy. Before Congress adopted the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act various court cases helped create the framework for Indian gaming, such as the 1976 case Bryan v Itasca County, where it was established that the state of Minnesota did not have the authority to tax personal property of a tribal member living on tribal land. This decision inspired several tribes to test whether they could legally offer bingo on tribal lands.
This included the Seminole Tribe of Florida and Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. In California the Cabazon and Morongo tribes introduced bingo games and were sued by the state. These cases were taken by Attorney Glen Feldman to the U.S. Supreme Court which ruled that tribes had a right to offer gaming if it was legal in the state.
At the same time Congress was negotiating with the tribes a “legislative compromise” if the case was decided in their favor. NIGA played a large role in this evolution that led to IGRA, an act that required tribal state gaming compacts for Class III gaming, but not for Class II gaming. Several tribes considered IGRA an illegal limitation on tribal sovereignty and challenged it in court, but IGRA was upheld.
Bluedog talked of the strong unwavering leadership that NIGA provided during this period and declared, “It’s been a great ride! The leadership was out of sight!”
Another panelist was Joel Frank Jr. of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, who discussed how the tribes arrived at the conclusion that they needed a source of funding independent of the U.S. government. Relying on the federal government to alleviate poverty and provide programs had not worked for them, they felt. Seminole Chairman James Billie began to ask what tribes might do besides selling cigarettes and raising cattle to create economic opportunity. They decided that bingo had the most promise.
They approached dozens of legal firms before finding attorneys who would represent them. Eventually they triumphed in the case Seminole v Butterworth, which used Bryan v Itasca County as legal precedent.
This led to a meeting with members from the Fond du Lac Tribe and early discussions of creating the group to fight for the protection of the sovereign right to conduct gaming. Each tribe was asked to contribute $5,000 to the Cabazon-Morongo case. Thus was NIGA born.
According to Frank, the tribes never dreamed that they were on the verge of a “renaissance” brought about by Indian gaming. “The rest is history. Imagine what we can do when we put our mind to it,” he said.
The final panelist to speak was NIGA Chairman Emeritus, Rick Hill, who declared, “We have the scars to prove it! There was an onslaught of resistance from Nevada, the National Governor’s Association, the National Attorney General’s Association, religious groups, anti-gaming groups and Congress.”
Hill was a member of the Oneida Tribal Council when the council sent him to discuss organizing NIGA with the Seminole Tribe. He was approached to be one of its first chairmen. When elected he was handed a shoebox filled with bills but no money. Tribes were persuaded to help contribute money to operate the association and the first executive was hired.
Together they put together a plan that identified all of the powerful players in the upcoming battle, a plan that moved the tribal agenda forward in Congress. Executive Director Jake Coin brought in 100 tribal chiefs to testify before Congress on the positive way that Indian gaming was changing peoples’ lives.
At the conclusion of the panel NIGA Chairman Ernie Stevens said, “I was able to work beside many of these prominent leaders, learning of the significance of having a presence in Washington, D.C. and the importance of having a strong membership in the organization. They empowered me and gave me advice as their understudy. I was able to listen, observe and learn from their example of leadership. I will always be grateful for this opportunity!”
