Ho-Chunk Hokum
"Ho Chunk Casino----where the winners are!"
Radio ad
Of course no casino could exist if there were too many winners; Ho Chunk,near the Wisconsin Dells, like all other casinos and forms of gambling, depends on losers for the expense of operating plus a hefty profit. Gambling is a lucrative business because a lot of people love the excitement of risking real money in the hopes of winning much more. Even the most minuscule chance of winning a fortune is enough to impel millions of people to buy lottery tickets and thousands of others to patronize Indian casinos. Let's take a look at who gambles, who really gets rich from gambling, and how the US government picks the big winners.
The Fight for Legality
The Puritans frowned on gambling (as well on as anything else that might be fun), but betting was common and popular in early America. During the late 19th and early 20th Centuries most states outlawed gambling, in response to pressures from both Christian clergy and Progressives. But open gambling was permitted in the western territories before they secured statehood, and anti-gambling laws elsewhere were often not enforced. In fact, pay-offs from gambling interests became a significant supplement to police earnings in many states and cities.
Nevada, which had outlawed gambling in 1909, was the first state to make it legal again in 1931. Other states permitted betting at racetracks. In 1963 New Hampshire established the first state lottery, and other states followed its lead. Today, Atlantic City, New Jersey, rivals Las Vegas as a gambling haven, and casino riverboats ply the Mississippi.
The Wisconsin Constitution prohibited all forms of gambling until charity bingo was legalized in 1973. In 1995 Wisconsin began the State Lottery.
The Wisconsin Lottery grosses about $483 million per year (1), of which only about ten percent is paid to winners. The rest, minus costs, goes to the State Treasury. A comparison of Lottery sales figures by zipcode shows that it is especially popular among those who can least afford to play: the poor. In zipcode 53206 (I-43 to 27th Street, North Avenue to Capitol Drive), with a 39% poverty rate (2), $3.3 million worth of Lottery tickets were sold in the fiscal year 2003-04 (1). In zipcode 53211 ( East side and Shorewood), with about 12% in poverty, only $1.35 million was spent on the Lottery that year. It appears that the Lottery, like the all-voluntary military, is more attractive to the poor than to the affluent.
The Indian Connection
Many of the treaties signed by the US government with Indian tribes permitted the tribes a great deal of autonomy, even sovreignty, on reservation lands. In the 1980's several tribes (including the Potowatami in Wisconsin) convinced federal courts, including the US Supreme Court, that they had the right to authorize gambling on their lands. In 1988 Congress passed a law to regulate Indian "gaming" and provided for licensing of Indian casinos in every state in which any type of gambling was legal. (3)
Today more than 250 tribes run bingo halls and casinos in 28 states. Twenty-seven tribes take in over $100 mllion per year each. Some of the states with Indian gambling, ( such as Wisconsin) have strict limits on stakes permitted for charity bingo, leaving the Indians with a virtual monopoly on high-stakes games. The Potowatami tribe was able to trade land in remote Forest County for a parcel near I-94 in the heart of Milwaukee. In Connecticut the Pequot tribe (650 members) runs Foxwood, the world's largest casino, with revenue of a billion dollars per year. The tiny Coushatta tribe in Louisiana, with only 837 members, garners $300 million from its Grand Casino and nearby hotel and golf-course.
Indian gaming grosses about $18.5 billion per year in this country.
Invitation to Corruption
The two keys to success in Indian casino operation are :
1. Get a license.
2. Make sure your rivals don't get one.
Since success and wealth are due to favorable treatment by government (Bureau of Indian Affairs, US Department of the Interior), the tribes need the help of white lobbyists, influence peddlers and "political fixers". For example Jack Abramoff, a major backer of Rep. Tom DeLay (R, Texas), and his partner Michael Scanlon earned $32 million in 3 years representing the Coushatta Tribe, mentioned above.(4) In the last election cycle, Indian tribes donated over $10 million to federal candidates plus an unknown amount to state officials (including the campaign of Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, who renegotiated tribal agreements upon taking office. The State Supreme Court ruled the pacts invalid in 2004, and the pacts are now in arbitration (5)) In addition, tribes seeking favorable rulings also contribute to political action committees with ties to the Bush Administration, such as "America 21."
Beyond Tribalism
If all gambling is morally wrong, then no state should conduct a lottery. If gambling is just another legitimate business, individuals and corporations should be able to engage in it and share the big profits, now reserved for state governments and Indian tribes.
Most Americans feel some guilt over the past treatment of the Indians by the US government, which broke numerous treaties, drove them off their ancestral lands, and destroyed their way of life. Perhaps this is the main reason that those who are most opposed to racial preference and reparations for blacks have no objection to the exclusive rights to gambling profits accorded to Indian tribes.
But poetic justice should not be confused with real justice. Whatever the evils of gambling (such as driving some compulsive gamblers into bankruptcy and theft), the court-validated Indian treaties ensure that gambling will be available to those who want it. No one wants to abrogate those few treaties with Indian tribes that the US still honors today.
But no treaty ever gave the Indians exclusive rights to profiteer off gambling, and every state has the absolute right to follow Nevada and New Jersey in legalizing all forms of gambling, including casinos. If members of the Ho-Chunk and Potowatami Tribes can cash in on the greed and gullibility of gamblers, members of other tribes ( Judah, Levi, etc.) should have the same opportunity. But don't bet on this ever happening.
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(1) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 6, 2005, p. 12A.
(2) Per 2000 US Census.
(3) "Tribal Counsel" by Michael Crowley in the New Republic, June 20, 2005
(4) Despite the best efforts of Abramoff and Scanlon, another Indian casino opened in May, 2005, about 60 miles closer to Houston than the Coushatta's complex. Even $32 million only buys so much "clout" nowadays. (3).
(5) Spivak and Bice in the Journal Sentinel, July 10, 2005.
Radio ad
Of course no casino could exist if there were too many winners; Ho Chunk,near the Wisconsin Dells, like all other casinos and forms of gambling, depends on losers for the expense of operating plus a hefty profit. Gambling is a lucrative business because a lot of people love the excitement of risking real money in the hopes of winning much more. Even the most minuscule chance of winning a fortune is enough to impel millions of people to buy lottery tickets and thousands of others to patronize Indian casinos. Let's take a look at who gambles, who really gets rich from gambling, and how the US government picks the big winners.
The Fight for Legality
The Puritans frowned on gambling (as well on as anything else that might be fun), but betting was common and popular in early America. During the late 19th and early 20th Centuries most states outlawed gambling, in response to pressures from both Christian clergy and Progressives. But open gambling was permitted in the western territories before they secured statehood, and anti-gambling laws elsewhere were often not enforced. In fact, pay-offs from gambling interests became a significant supplement to police earnings in many states and cities.
Nevada, which had outlawed gambling in 1909, was the first state to make it legal again in 1931. Other states permitted betting at racetracks. In 1963 New Hampshire established the first state lottery, and other states followed its lead. Today, Atlantic City, New Jersey, rivals Las Vegas as a gambling haven, and casino riverboats ply the Mississippi.
The Wisconsin Constitution prohibited all forms of gambling until charity bingo was legalized in 1973. In 1995 Wisconsin began the State Lottery.
The Wisconsin Lottery grosses about $483 million per year (1), of which only about ten percent is paid to winners. The rest, minus costs, goes to the State Treasury. A comparison of Lottery sales figures by zipcode shows that it is especially popular among those who can least afford to play: the poor. In zipcode 53206 (I-43 to 27th Street, North Avenue to Capitol Drive), with a 39% poverty rate (2), $3.3 million worth of Lottery tickets were sold in the fiscal year 2003-04 (1). In zipcode 53211 ( East side and Shorewood), with about 12% in poverty, only $1.35 million was spent on the Lottery that year. It appears that the Lottery, like the all-voluntary military, is more attractive to the poor than to the affluent.
The Indian Connection
Many of the treaties signed by the US government with Indian tribes permitted the tribes a great deal of autonomy, even sovreignty, on reservation lands. In the 1980's several tribes (including the Potowatami in Wisconsin) convinced federal courts, including the US Supreme Court, that they had the right to authorize gambling on their lands. In 1988 Congress passed a law to regulate Indian "gaming" and provided for licensing of Indian casinos in every state in which any type of gambling was legal. (3)
Today more than 250 tribes run bingo halls and casinos in 28 states. Twenty-seven tribes take in over $100 mllion per year each. Some of the states with Indian gambling, ( such as Wisconsin) have strict limits on stakes permitted for charity bingo, leaving the Indians with a virtual monopoly on high-stakes games. The Potowatami tribe was able to trade land in remote Forest County for a parcel near I-94 in the heart of Milwaukee. In Connecticut the Pequot tribe (650 members) runs Foxwood, the world's largest casino, with revenue of a billion dollars per year. The tiny Coushatta tribe in Louisiana, with only 837 members, garners $300 million from its Grand Casino and nearby hotel and golf-course.
Indian gaming grosses about $18.5 billion per year in this country.
Invitation to Corruption
The two keys to success in Indian casino operation are :
1. Get a license.
2. Make sure your rivals don't get one.
Since success and wealth are due to favorable treatment by government (Bureau of Indian Affairs, US Department of the Interior), the tribes need the help of white lobbyists, influence peddlers and "political fixers". For example Jack Abramoff, a major backer of Rep. Tom DeLay (R, Texas), and his partner Michael Scanlon earned $32 million in 3 years representing the Coushatta Tribe, mentioned above.(4) In the last election cycle, Indian tribes donated over $10 million to federal candidates plus an unknown amount to state officials (including the campaign of Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, who renegotiated tribal agreements upon taking office. The State Supreme Court ruled the pacts invalid in 2004, and the pacts are now in arbitration (5)) In addition, tribes seeking favorable rulings also contribute to political action committees with ties to the Bush Administration, such as "America 21."
Beyond Tribalism
If all gambling is morally wrong, then no state should conduct a lottery. If gambling is just another legitimate business, individuals and corporations should be able to engage in it and share the big profits, now reserved for state governments and Indian tribes.
Most Americans feel some guilt over the past treatment of the Indians by the US government, which broke numerous treaties, drove them off their ancestral lands, and destroyed their way of life. Perhaps this is the main reason that those who are most opposed to racial preference and reparations for blacks have no objection to the exclusive rights to gambling profits accorded to Indian tribes.
But poetic justice should not be confused with real justice. Whatever the evils of gambling (such as driving some compulsive gamblers into bankruptcy and theft), the court-validated Indian treaties ensure that gambling will be available to those who want it. No one wants to abrogate those few treaties with Indian tribes that the US still honors today.
But no treaty ever gave the Indians exclusive rights to profiteer off gambling, and every state has the absolute right to follow Nevada and New Jersey in legalizing all forms of gambling, including casinos. If members of the Ho-Chunk and Potowatami Tribes can cash in on the greed and gullibility of gamblers, members of other tribes ( Judah, Levi, etc.) should have the same opportunity. But don't bet on this ever happening.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 6, 2005, p. 12A.
(2) Per 2000 US Census.
(3) "Tribal Counsel" by Michael Crowley in the New Republic, June 20, 2005
(4) Despite the best efforts of Abramoff and Scanlon, another Indian casino opened in May, 2005, about 60 miles closer to Houston than the Coushatta's complex. Even $32 million only buys so much "clout" nowadays. (3).
(5) Spivak and Bice in the Journal Sentinel, July 10, 2005.
posted by Gerald S Glazer at 5:37 PM
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