Gambling is the modern Buffalo

With many problems created by gambling of Native Americans, in the right setting there may be just as many problems solved. It is without question that gambling has been beneficial to some Native Americans. The keyword here is some, as many Native American tribes do not experience any benefits from gambling, and some that do experience benefits have many more hardships due to gambling. Walking Antelope, the writer of the article "Gaming Provides Many Benefits to Native American Communities" argues that gambling is today's equivalent of the buffalo for the Native Americans. He argues that the buffalo "gave the plains Indians everything they needed to survive and prosper, so now in the 21st century Native Americans turn to the gaming industry as their means of survival, their way to prosperity (Antelope). The buffalo gave Indians food and a means for survival and today he argues that the gambling industry is the main way that Indians make money, which in turn feeds them and gives them survival. It is an interesting comparison to make, one that I agree with, but in turn disagree with. By that I mean I agree that the gambling industry has helped many Native Americans by giving them economic autonomy, but it has also caused many problems. It is linked to gambling addictions that has caused suicide on reservations and it has caused many Native Americans to be stereotyped as wealthy. I don't believe that the buffalo ever caused Native Americans to be suicidal. The analogy makes sense but to me it is a bit of a stretch to argue that gambling and the buffalo have had equal benefits to the Native Americans. The article points out that "Indian gaming in America has become a multi-billion dollar industry, which many Tribes have embraced as a tool to pull their people out of poverty and unemployment" (Antelope). The gaming industry is a very powerful industry that has brought much profit to the Native Americans. The question isn't if gaming has helped some tribes economy, because it clearly has, the question is does it help overall? I believe the gaming industry has been an overall help, but it still requires many tweaks. I think for people to lump all Native Americans together as rich because some have prospered from gaming is ridiculous, and is one of the problems associated with the gaming industry. Some tribes do not benefit as much from the gaming industry, and others question the moral implications. These tribes should then be given more funding for programs and welfare because they need the money. Yes some tribes are getting rich from the gambling industry, but for all their positive impact they have had, there have been negatives that need to be addressed. Suicide and gambling addiction is one of the main problems, and the casinos seem to be trying to help. Not only do Indian casinos require strict background checks on employees, but they also "scored higher than Las Vegas or Atlantic City when it came to recognizing and treating compulsive gamblers" (Antelope). The tribal casinos seem to be trying to make a difference and help solve the problems they have caused. This is a step in the right direction as they are taking their problems into their own hands. However, some tribes are not able to take their problems into their own hands and they should not be punished for this. The struggling tribes still need much economic help. Is it their fault that when the reservation locations were chosen they were chosen on the worst land which makes it very difficult for them to succeed? No, it is the fault of the American government. So I believe the American government should be responsible for helping these tribes. While gambling has had negative impacts it has become a huge part of the Native American economy and cannot be halted now, it is simply an industry that must be tweaked. Is it the same to Native Americans as the buffalo once was? Not in my opinion, but the similarities are striking.


Antelope, Walking. "Gaming Provides Many Benefits to Native American Communities." At Issue: Indian Gaming. Ed. Stuart A. Kallen. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010 .

The Negative Side of Gaming for Native Americans

While some Native Americans benefit greatly from gaming casinos that they are allowed to have on their reservation this group of Native Americans represents the minority, not the majority. Most Native Americans "live below the federal poverty level" (Coin). While the recent boom of gaming has boosted the income of some, this is not the case with most Native Americans. In fact, for those Native Americans living below the poverty line, gambling has had a negative impact on them. The success of recent gambling has led to the creation of the term "rich Indian" (Coin) and has created a stereotype that like most stereotypes, it is simply not true. One may ask, why would it be bad if people thought you were rich? Isn't being rich a good thing? In terms of government aid, it is a very bad thing. The government of many states, including California, sees that gambling has benefited some tribes, and based on that they cut spending that went to helping Native Americans. Just one example of these spending cuts is that the "state and local funding for substance abuse and alcohol prevention at Indian health clinics has been slashed from $2.8 million to $100,000, virtually wiping out the program" (Coin). Those helping the Native Americans believe they no longer need to be helped, so they are limiting their help. In terms of this cut, Native Americans need these prevention clinics and they need funding for them because suicide rates in Native Americans have spiked drastically. I wrote about this in an earlier blog post entitled "current event" and I learned that Native Americans need programs like the ones that are being cut in order to talk about problems and help find solutions to them. Many tribes simply cannot afford to fund these programs, like the Yurok tribe as "much of the Yurok reservation is without essential services such as water and electricity" (Coin). They lack basic life necessities in terms of water, so they clearly cannot afford to pay for programs to help cut substance abuse and suicide rates. The Yurok tribe is really being harmed by the success of other tribes as they are lumped in with all Native Americans, and overall there has been success of bigger tribes related to gambling. Due to the success of some tribes, the government of California wants to re-write the agreements to the"tribal-state gaming compacts agreed to in 1999" (Coin) in order to have the casinos benefit the state. To me this seems like deja vu for the Native Americans as any time in American history that they have had a chance for success the American government always wants to re-write treaties to help themselves. I simply don't see why the Native Americans should or would want to re-write this treaty when in reality many tribes still need more state funding, the last thing they need is to have their taxes raised. Coin has argued that the gambling policy has hurt many Native Americans, but I do not think this means he wants it to go away. He simply believes it has created a false stereotype of a rich Indian which in turn has harmed Native Americans who are living below the poverty line. I agree that this stereotype has been harmful, but overall the gaming business brings in a lot of money for many Native Americans, so it is helpful overall. This does not mean I believe that taxes on it should be raised or that state funding for Native Americans should be cut. I believe quite the opposite of that. They need to keep taxes low and allow the business to flourish so that the profit can trickle down to those who are experience hard times. I have seen the connection to many poor Native Americans in some of the articles I have read so far. In my short story, the main character was unable to muster enough money to travel to Phoenix Arizona to get the ashes of his father; he asked the tribe for money and all they could give him was $100. The stereotype of the rich-Indian surely did not apply here as the main character hardly had any money and the tribe was also very poor. While this was a fictional story it still represents the tough economic journey that Native Americans are experiencing. Even worse, they are thought to be rich so the government wants to limit the help they are giving to the Native Americans.


Coin, Jacob. "Most Native Americans Have Not Profited from Gaming." At Issue: Indian Gaming. Ed. Stuart A. Kallen. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 7 Feb. 2010 .