Native American Gamblings

Throughout the history of the United States of America, many different groups of people have been abused, exploited, oppressed and discriminated in some way ever since Christopher Columbus “discovered” this land in 1492. One group in particular are the Native Americans, who in fact were here long before the infamous Christopher Columbus had set foot in what he thought was India. Native Americans have had their land and homes burned to the ground, they have inured the Trail of Tears and many more sickening atrocities. Atrocities that have resulted in psychological and financial set backs of the Native American people that still linger today. Monetary reparations have been proposed as a solution to repay the Native Americans for these atrocities,
Government in 1987 to offer gambling on reservations as a source of income. The law split gambling into three categories: Class I “Social games”; Class II “lottery, bingo”; Class III “Casinos” (cite). In 1988, 70 Native American reservations raked in more than 100 million off of gambling activities from casinos. By 2001, Casinos became one of the fastest growing sectors in U.S. tourism. Nationally, casinos brought in 63.3 billion, in which 12.8 billion was Native American casinos (cite). By 2006, of the 562 federally recognized Native American tribes, 226 tribes engaged in some form of gambling like casinos (cite). In 2008, casinos on Native American reservations reached a total of 26.7 billion dollars, with tribes in California, Connecticut, Florida and New York, experiencing major growth in tribal gaming (cite). This rapid growth in revenue shows how Native Americans were given the advantage of legally operating casinos that essentially resulted in an endless supply of reparations for the years to come. Instead of giving a large one-time payment in reparations, the U.S. government set the Native Americans up for success in the gambling industry by giving them the opportunity to generate income on their
The rise in pathological gambling and alcoholism sheds light on the true effects casinos have had on the Native American people. Major successes in revenue in the casino industry would only give an incentive to other tribes to invest reparation money into casinos. The results could break apart close Native American communities if the costs of operating a casino are not considered. Instead of giving large reparations to Native Americans, the U.S. government could set up services to help tribes by building schools, facilities and other social services in order to give Native Americans a brighter future. Reparation payments may only help Native Americans in the short term, but by supporting them with better services and opportunities, the results could last for