With some states readying to start online gambling, Native American tribal leaders, including ones in Connecticut, are calling on the federal government to step in as it did with brick-and-mortar gambling and establish regulations that ensure tribes get a piece of the action without having their revenue taxed and their sovereignty compromised, The Associated Press reports.
A new set of regulations is unlikely before this year’s election, but recent events have given momentum to efforts to launch online gambling in some states. Since a December 2011 Department of Justice opinion that not all Internet gambling is banned by federal law, Delaware has legalized online gambling and Nevada is closing in on making online poker possible. New Jersey too is working to make it a reality.
Some tribes worry that if left to states, they will end up with a patchwork of regulations that aren’t considerate of the relationship Native Americans have with the federal government.
“Tribes should be extremely hesitant to entrust their economic futures to the tender mercies of the 50 states, many of whom are still in financial crises and looking for new sources of revenue,” Bruce “Two Dogs” Bozsum said in testimony prepared for a Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing on the Issue Thursday. Bozsum is chairman of the Mohegan Tribe of Uncasville, which has large casino operations.
Bozsum said his tribe has invested a “great deal of time” preparing Internet gambling regulations. “These regulations now stand ready to be implemented, and will meet or exceed the toughest regulations found anywhere in the world, including the new standards recently established in Nevada,” Boszum said.
According to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, tribal gambling was a more than $27 billion industry in 2011, while commercial gambling was $35.6 billion and worldwide gambling revenues were $30 billion.
