American Indian casinos launching PR campaign

Erica Werner

Tuesday, April 8, 2003 | 9:47 a.m.

PHOENIX -- Indian leaders discussed tribal gambling's benefits and how to promote them Monday, acknowledging Indian gambling has encountered some opposition even as it has grown to a $12.7 billion industry.

"Indian gaming is working for the entire nation. It's rebuilding Indian communities, strengthening tribal governments and aiding nearby non-Indian communities that have fallen on hard economic times," Ernest L. Stevens Jr., chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association, told the group's annual convention. "But we have to make that clear."

To that end tribal leaders heard a report about a newly launched publicity campaign expected to raise $3 million to $5 million to spread the word about the benefits of Indian gambling and attempt to influence opinions among the public and elected officials.

The association, which represents 184 tribes, also hopes to devote about $1 million to compiling a comprehensive statistical report about the benefits of tribal gambling, officials said Monday. The report would be used to counter negative portrayals in the media and attempts at unfavorable regulations and legislation.

"It's just something we have needed for an incredible amount of time," said Valerie Spicer, one of the officials heading up the project. "All of us are directly affected by this industry and we need this information to protect it, to preserve it."

At Monday's opening session of the weeklong membership meeting, tribal officials voiced anger over negative portrayals in the press and misperceptions in the public. They also expressed anxiety that the successes and prosperity Indians have won since Congress legalized Indian gambling in 1988 are at risk.

But casino-rich tribes have increasingly flexed their political muscle, pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into political campaigns, winning allies among lawmakers and influencing policy. Tribal leaders also boasted of their successes.

"They're going to harass us and do anything they can to take away the energy we that have. But we know how to lobby, we know how to work on Capitol Hill ... That's something we had to learn because they didn't let us be in that process," Stevens said.