Tribal gaming icon Fred Dakota has died at age 84.
A former leader of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Dakota opened a casino with a single blackjack table in his two-car garage on New Year’s Eve 1983. He charged 70 cents for a shot of whiskey. The venue was considered a milestone for Native American gambling.
Tribal President Warren “Chris” Swartz Jr. said, “It was an honor and a privilege to stand shoulder to shoulder with one of the greatest leaders in Indian country. Fred impacted not only KBIC, but many tribal communities with his leadership abilities.”
In 1984, Dakota told the New York Times, “We gave the government vast tracts of land in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota when we signed that treaty in 1854. And what did we get in return? We got the government to agree not to kill us. Well, now it’s time we got something more. Gambling is going to make a lot of Indians rich.”
Dakota’s garage casino led to construction of a larger casino, but it was shut down by federal court decisions. Dakota stated he couldn’t afford endless appeals. However, in 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court cited a California case to ease gambling restrictions on tribal land; a year later, states were allowed by federal law to negotiate tribal gaming compacts.
In 1997, a jury convicted Dakota of accepting $127,000 in bribes from a New Jersey slot machine dealer and tax evasion. He claimed the money was an advance for a telephone lottery game. Dakota was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.
