Leader: Gaming giving Indians more sway in elections

Leslie Hoffman

Wednesday, April 7, 2004 | 9:09 a.m.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Indian gaming's success is not only crucial to Indian country economic development but is helping American Indians gain a stronger political voice, says the chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association.

"Having economic support in Indian country has helped us be visible in state capitals; it has helped us be visible in Washington, D.C.," Ernest Stevens Jr. said in an interview Tuesday. "Our goal is to strengthen sovereignty, strengthen government-to-government relations and defend the rights we have."

A day earlier, Stevens told industry representatives that Indian gaming has created more than 500,000 jobs nationwide and generated $16 billion in revenue last year, according to an association analysis.

The group's annual meeting and trade show, which concludes today, has drawn 4,000 people and some 300 exhibitors featuring everything from gaming machine suppliers to security firms and casino architects. The nonprofit group is the nation's largest American Indian trade association and represents 184 Indian nations.

The event comes as the debate over Indian gaming continues on Capitol Hill. Among pending legislation is a bill that would amend the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, including the addition of various conditions required for tribes to share revenue with states.

Stevens said the bill would prevent states from using Indian gaming as a way out of their own budget problems.

States cannot tax tribes because tribes are sovereign governments. But as Nevada-style tribal gambling has catapulted some Indians from poverty to extreme wealth, tribes that want to sign deals with states to establish casinos are increasingly agreeing to share their revenue.

Such agreements allow tribes to pay portions of their winnings to the state in exchange for a benefit.

In New Mexico, 2001 gaming compacts specified that the tribes would hand over 8 percent of slot profits for larger casinos and 3 percent for smaller casinos. The nine tribes recently sought to renegotiate those compacts so they can offer complimentary food and hotel accommodations to attract more business.

Two New Mexico tribes, the Mescalero Apaches and Pojoaque Pueblo, have refused to sign state gambling compacts and are in a legal dispute in federal court with the state attorney general's office.

"We are going to continue to make sure that whatever the tribes negotiate is going to be a benefit to the tribes," Stevens said.

Through the growth of the Indian gaming industry, Stevens said tribes will see their sphere of influence grow.

"The people that become our family through employment and interactions and working with Indian tribes through the gaming industry and other economic endeavors" will create "a big, giant happy family" that goes beyond reservation boundaries, Stevens said.

In New Mexico, gamblers fed more than $110 million into slot machines at 11 tribal casinos in the last quarter of 2003, and the tribes, in turn, paid $8.74 million in revenue sharing to the state general fund, according to the state Gaming Control Board. The casinos had shown record wins since 2001 until the most recent quarter, when net wins in the last three months of 2003 dropped 17.4 percent from the more than $112.5 million reported the previous quarter.

"As you drive from Albuquerque through Santa Fe, you see how San Felipe, Tesuque, Pojoaque, Santa Clara, San Juan and other tribes have transformed the area and you realize why New Mexico's tourism department focuses its message around Indian tourism," Stevens said during remarks to association membership Monday.

The association this week also honored Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., who is retiring from Congress. Stevens said Campbell has spent his career educating the federal government about tribal issues, including gaming.

"Indian gaming has been overwhelmingly good not only for Indian country but also for the communities around it," Campbell told association members Monday.