Indian gaming loses ground

Thursday, Feb. 11, 1999 | 11:12 a.m.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- If there were any losers in the aftermath of this week's National Gambling Impact Study Commission meeting, the nod would go to the nation's Indian tribes.

"The Indians did more harm to their cause than good," one casino industry lobbyist said. "They sort of replaced us as the bogeyman in this whole thing."

Another casino lobbyist added: "What were they thinking?"

Indian gaming always has been vulnerable during the federal commission's two-year study of gambling across America. Indian casinos, unlike the commercial casino industry, already are subject to federal regulations. And unlike their mainstream counterparts, the tribes have not been adept at lobbying for their cause.

But many at this week's meeting said the Indian gamers, though it wasn't their intent, made a strong case for tighter federal regulations over their operations.

Rick Hill, chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association, which represents 168 tribes, appeared antagonistic when testifying before the federal panel.

"There's no question he offended those members of the commission who came into that meeting without any problem with Indian gaming," said Wayne Mehl, Washington lobbyist for the Nevada Resort Association.

"He took people who were essentially neutral on the issue and turned them around to a negative position."

Hill's hostility apparently had been building for months. The tribes have complained before that the commission has not been sensitive to their long struggle to survive as sovereign nations within the United States. And, indeed, some commissioners have made remarks along the way that alienated the tribes.

It all seemed to boil over in Hill's testimony Tuesday when he said the tribes had lost hope that the commission will ever be fair to them.

Hill hurt his position with the commission further when he refused a request to voluntarily turn over records disclosing how the tribes spend their gambling revenues. He said his organization didn't trust the panel with the information and believed the records, if made public, would be used against the tribes.

That intensified a conflict between the commission and the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC), which regulates tribal operations. The Indian gaming panel also is refusing to turn over the records, claiming they are confidential.

The National Gambling Impact Study Commission, which sees the financial information as essential to its effort to get a handle on Indian gaming in America, is threatening to force a legal showdown and subpoena the NIGC records.

Hill also didn't score any points with the study panel when he clashed with Commissioner John Wilhelm, president of the international Culinary Union.

In his written testimony, Hill objected to Wilhelm's participation on Indian gaming issues, saying the union leader was on the opposite side of a legal battle with the tribes in California over Proposition 5, which paved the way for the spread of Las Vegas-style casinos on Indian reservations.

That prompted a tongue-lashing from Wilhelm, who said he had no intention of backing away from his work on the commission.

"If it had been up to me, I wouldn't have taken on a national labor leader of Wilhelm's credentials as my enemy," one casino lobbyist said.

Mehl and others now expect the federal commission will have much tougher recommendations for Indian gaming when it files its report to Congress in June.

But casino lobbyists are smart enough not to gloat over Hill's misfortune.

The industry still faces some tough hurdles itself before the commission writes its report.

There's still a strong anti-gaming presence on the nine-member panel, and that can only mean trouble for the industry down the road.

For the time being, however, industry leaders don't mind getting a breather.

"If this was a horse race," another casino insider said, "(the Indians) just pulled ahead of us."