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Rooney rips Indian, LV casinos

Friday, Feb. 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Rooney, drawn to the topic by the New York Legislature's recent rejection of legalized gambling, said on Sunday's broadcast that most casinos on Indian land are under management that is "about as Indian as I am."

"Why don't the Indian casinos making hundreds of millions of tax-free dollars help their own people?" said Rooney, noting reports about Indians at the snowbound Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota.

Rooney also said that casinos don't produce anything except "piles of cash for sleazeball owners."

Keller George, a member of the Oneida Nation in upstate New York and president of the 23-tribe United South and Eastern Tribes, said Rooney's comments were "highly insulting and offensive." Many tribes run their own casinos or oversee non-Indian managers, he said.

Rooney said his "sleazeball owners" reference was aimed at Las Vegas casino owners, not Indians. As for the rest of the commentary, he said, "I do not feel I have anything to apologize for."

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