While some critics contend more tribes should use gaming revenues to finance social services and secondary education, tribal leaders say it’s impossible for gambling to ever cover all the unmet needs in Indian Country. A small number of tribes are indeed becoming wealthy because of gaming, but most Native communities in the United States are located far from the major population centers that provide the lifeblood of successful, destination casinos.

Those tribes lucky enough to reap large profits from commercial gaming say they’re pouring all the money they can into housing projects, health care, roads, schools, scholarships, and a host of other programs, many of which are chronically underfunded despite treaties and other agreements with federal and state governments. Some tribes are also investing in ventures as diverse as manufacturing plants and theater complexes to ensure their communities have a stable economic base if gambling falters.

Recent media stories, including a series on tribal gambling published last year by TIME magazine, have created the illusion that American Indians are freed from the shackles of poverty, and tribal colleges do not need further support from the federal government. “I think there is a lot of misperception,” says Gerald Gipp, executive director of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), based in northern Virginia. “The TIME articles didn’t help. I think we have a lot of work ahead of us to educate people.”

A handful of the nation’s 34 accredited tribal colleges are clearly benefiting from gaming, but most school leaders say gambling is insufficient to finance their operations, let alone pay for the other pressing needs virtually every tribe faces. “I think all tribes value education, but it just gets lost sometimes because of all the other issues that need funding,” Gipp explains.

The Tohono O’odham Nation in southern Arizona allocated $13 million in casino revenues to start a new tribal college three years ago. José Cazares, a Tohono O’Odham studies instructor, says his tribe is also using gaming money to build a nursing home, run a radio station, develop a museum, construct youth centers, provide scholarships, and create a new grant program for Native entrepreneurs.

In time, Cazares says, the college, which already boasts 176 students, will be eligible for federal funding to help pay for building a campus, supplies, and future operations. “The plan has always been to start off with seed money” from casino revenue, Cazares explains. “The tribe is very positive and has a very positive outlook about the college.”

In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, gaming generates about $6 million a year for the Bay Mills Chippewa Indian Community. But President Michael Parish, president of the tribally-controlled Bay Mills Community College, says the tribe has focused on improving housing for its members, building and upgrading infrastructure, and providing stipends and scholarships for needy students. Parish says those hefty obligations already devour casino revenues, and tribal leaders have thus far been unable to provide regular funding for the college. “There’s very little disposable income left,” says Parish.

The tribal government recently allocated $50,000 to help build a new college library. Parish says that it’s unlikely that gambling in his part of the country will increase in the future. “There’s no place to expand,” he says. “We’re in a rural area. You’ve got to bring people in” to play the stakes.

Parish notes Michigan has a state lottery that helps pay for public education. But no state money is allocated to tribal colleges. While some people say wealthy casino tribes should help out their Native neighbors, states don’t give their lottery revenue to other states, no matter what their need.

State-tribal compacts mandated under the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act mean that non-Indian politicians have tremendous influence over the types of tribal operations that will be permitted both on and off reservations. And some Indian nations, including the Navajo, oppose gambling on philosophical grounds, so they receive no money from tribal casinos. On many rural reservations, tribal leaders say small-scale gambling provides a few jobs but no big payouts for their governments.

In Montana, for example, Class III gaming compacts have been negotiated on five of the state’s seven reservations, but all tribal gaming operations there are small. In fact, none of the seven tribally controlled colleges in the state receive any gaming proceeds at all.

According to the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA), which represents more than 180 tribes in the United States involved in commercial gambling ventures, tribal gaming has created more than 300,000 new jobs across the country. NIGA also reports that about 75% of those jobs have gone to non-Indians, which further undermines myths that all tribes and their members are getting rich. The highly negative articles published in TIME described government funding for tribes as being “handouts.” The series triggered angry responses from across the country, including a rebuttal from NIGA Chairman Ernest Stevens Jr.

He noted that contrary to popular belief, Indians are paying their share when it comes to taxes. In fact, he said, Indian gaming revenue is fully taxable and provides more than $4 billion a year to the federal government, over $1 billion to state coffers, and $50 million to local governments. Additionally, tribes donate about $68 million a year to charitable organizations, and individual Indians pay another $4 billion a year in federal income taxes.

“The federal programs that you refer to as handouts represent an attempt by the federal government to live up to thousands of treaty obligations incurred when establishing the land base for this nation,” Stevens wrote. “Indian gaming not only works for Indian Country, it works for America. It provides jobs to many who never worked before, provides care for our elders, and brings hope and opportunity to our children.”

Suzette Brewer (Cherokee) of the American Indian College Fund in Denver says her organization’s new Sovereign Nations Scholarship Fund targets gaming and non-gaming tribes for donations that will build an endowment. The group has a $10 million goal for the project with $1 million already pledged. Brewer notes that according to U.S. Census figures, American Indians are the fastest-growing ethnic group in the nation, which means all types of revenue sources, including gaming and continued federal funding, are needed to address existing and future needs, including higher education.

Ron Selden is a freelance writer and photographer based in Helena, MT. For more information, visit the National Indian Gaming Association web site at <www.indiangaming.org>.