Indian casino officials leery of gambling commission

Angie Wagner

Tuesday, Nov. 10, 1998 | 7:07 a.m.

Indian casino officials just want the National Gambling Impact Study Commission to stay out of their lives.

"I don't want to see this turn into a 'let's get the Indians' deal," Apesanahkwat, chairman of the Menominee Nation in Keshena, Wis., said Monday.

About 100 tribal leaders met with commission chairwoman Kay James prior to the panel's two-day meeting here, which begins Tuesday at the MGM Grand hotel-casino.

The commission was set up by Congress to study the economic and social impact of gambling.

But tribal officials were adamant that the commission wants to take away their casinos, and that would be detrimental to their members. Many said revenue from their casinos goes toward health care, drug and alcohol programs, and the casinos have helped Indians get off welfare.

"We didn't conceive this out of a desire to become Donald Trump," Apesanahkwat said. "We conceived this to feed our people."

The tribal leaders told James they feel as if they have been singled out because the commission has asked them to provide information on how much money their casinos bring in and how many people are on the tribal rolls.

"Want to know what we make?" said Tom Maulson, president of the Lac du Flambeau Chippewa tribe in Wisconsin. "You should have been there 50 years ago when we had nothing."

Richard Milanovich, chairman of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in California, agreed.

"Will that be in the report - that the tribes are taking care of their own members?"

Apesanahkwat said his people would go to bed hungry if not for the benefit of Indian casinos. He chastised the federal government, saying it shouldn't be concerned with sovereign nations.

"You folks have a short memory. You're guests in this country," he said. "These people here (Las Vegas), they take their money to the bank. They buy yachts with this. We buy life with this."

This week's meeting is the last one before the commission returns to Washington to prepare a report of its two-year nationwide study on the industry.

Earlier Monday, James said she wasn't a threat to the gambling industry, but she and the commission just want to gather information in Las Vegas about casinos, not criticize them.

She said she doesn't want to tell people how to live their lives.

"It's up to the citizens of that community to decide for themselves."

Casino officials expressed concern last week that the commission would try to bring out the worst in Las Vegas. James is an emerging leader in the Christian right, which is promoting an anti-gambling agenda. Three of the nine panel members, including MGM Grand Inc. Chairman Terry Lanni, are aligned with the industry.

James and some commission members spent the day meeting with casino officials, union employees, Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones and experts on compulsive gamblers.

"What we're here to do in Las Vegas is to allow the people of Las Vegas to tell their story."