The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs (SCIA) released a discussion draft bill on Internet gaming titled the “Tribal Online Gaming Act of 2012.” The draft was publicly announced to Tribal Leaders gathered at the National Indian Gaming Association’s Legislative Summit in Washington, D.C.
A summary provided by
the SCIA acknowledges the important economic contributions that Indian gaming
provides to this country. It states that Indian Gaming “has created 628,000
jobs for Indians and local communities, and comprises 40 percent of all gaming
in the United States,” and finds “that any federalization of online gaming must
provide positive economic benefits for Indian Tribes.”
You have to love Robert Odawi Porter, President of Seneca
Nation. He can speak so eloquently, he
can make gaming sound poetic.
Robert Odawi Porter, the president of the New York-based
Seneca Nation of Indians, said "a thousand flowers bloomed for Indian
nations" after Congress allowed tribes to enter the big leagues of
gambling in 1988. At a Senate Indian Affairs Committee meeting in February, he
said online gaming threatened tribal sovereignty and the tens of thousands of
jobs the casinos had created.
However, the municipalities are not looking so kindly upon
the Seneca and Mohawks nations right now.
The Albany Times Union is reporting today on the withheld Indian payments
to localities:
The Seneca and Mohawk tribes have for years withheld casino
payments to the state, claiming that New York violated contracts with the
tribes by allowing gambling in their exclusive territories. Consequently, the
state stopped sending money — more than $100 million so far — to municipalities
where Indian casinos operate.
Without their share of casino money, the local governments
are straining to provide basic services. And with no compromise in sight,
arbitrators may have to resolve the long-running dispute.
The Seneca Nation of Indians, which operates casinos in
Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Salamanca, stopped sending payments starting in 2009.
They say the state violated the compact that gives the Seneca exclusive
gambling rights west of the Finger Lakes when it allowed three western New York
harness tracks to operate video lottery terminals.
Seneca President
Robert Odawi Porter said about $400 million worth of withheld payments to the
state has been placed in escrow. A quarter of the money would have gone to host
cities like Buffalo and Niagara Falls.
The St. Regis Mohawks, who operate a casino on their land
straddling the Canadian border, separately decided in October 2010 to stop
making payments, citing slot machines operating on Indian territory elsewhere
in northern New York.
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