Gary Green Gaming recently entered into an agreement with the Waccamaw Indian People of South Carolina to fund the tribe’s quest to gain federal recognition. The company was founded by Gary Green, a TV personality, author and Donald Trump’s former vice president of marketing.
The Waccamaw Indian People first were recognized on census rolls in 1820. However, tribal members were denied U.S. citizenship until 1924. Their traditional graveyards were not protected until 1987.
Buddy Levy, chief executive officer at Gary Green Gaming, said, “The Waccamaw Indian People are already recognized by the state of South Carolina, so the trail to federal recognition is the next logical step. Gary Green has known Chief Harold Hatcher for a number of years and the two men have often discussed sovereignty and federal recognition for the tribe. Though the U.S. Department of Interior declared the tribe extinct, an anthropologist from the University of South Carolina disproved that erroneous assertion.”
Levy was the attorney for numerous developers of tribal casinos, including the Seminole Tribe of Florida in 1979.
Green added, “In 2005, the state of South Carolina officially recognized the Waccamaw Indian People, and on October 20 of this year, we met with Chief Hatcher and some of his council members to work out details for our funding and leading the steps to that federal status.”
