Welcome to
the murky world of Indian gaming and casino gambling
By Will
Collette
UPDATE: The Associated Press released a story on March 22 that was picked up by dozens of media outlets (including the Sun and New London Day), reinforcing the points I made in this article about the terrible economics plaguing Indian casinos. Click here to read it).
The third rail of Charlestown politics is gambling, and more specifically, a gaming establishment by the Narragansett Indian Tribe. Anyone who wants to be survive in this town, and to an extent, I mean that literally, must take the oath of opposition to gaming in Charlestown.
The third rail of Charlestown politics is gambling, and more specifically, a gaming establishment by the Narragansett Indian Tribe. Anyone who wants to be survive in this town, and to an extent, I mean that literally, must take the oath of opposition to gaming in Charlestown.
I’ve taken
that oath, not just for convenience (or fear), but because like many others, I believe a
large-scale gaming establishment in Charlestown would irreparably change
Charlestown, and not for the better.
Tribal Council member Randy Noka charged the CCA with racism |
Second, I
think it’s time Charlestown reconciled with the Tribe. To do that, we will need
to acknowledge and reject the racism that
underlies much of the town’s historic relationship with the Tribe. Part of that
reconciliation should be some substantive cooperation between the Tribe and the
Town on measures to help the tribe and its members prosper.
I raise
this sore subject again because there have been a number of recent developments
to report that relate to these issues.
One of the main reasons why the idea of a Charlestown tribal casino is so far-fetched involves the simple economics of the casino business.
Mohegan Sun, like Foxwoods, reports drastically reduced profits |
Even with the many signs of economic recovery, their revenues are not springing back. They have cut thousands of workers from their payrolls and profit-sharing to tribal members since the start of the economic slump.
Both
venues have just reported historic lows. Foxwoods slot profits are down 24%
just in the past month. Mohegan Sun is almost as bad, down 18.6%. Their
year-over-year decline is the worst in their histories.
According to the New London Day, Foxwoods hasn’t seen monthly slot profits so low since December 1996. Mohegan Sun’s tally is the lowest since February 2001.
According to the New London Day, Foxwoods hasn’t seen monthly slot profits so low since December 1996. Mohegan Sun’s tally is the lowest since February 2001.
The Day
also reported (“Luck
seen running out at region’s two casinos”) that part of the decline
is due to a trend among gamblers to not want to travel as far.
Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun have lost Massachusetts gamblers to the Twin River slot parlor in Lincoln... |
Even more
Massachusetts gamblers are likely to save the gas and stop at Twin River when
it becomes Rhode Island’s first full-fledged casino after voters approved
adding table games last November.
But that
bump in business for Twin River will probably only last as long as it takes for the Mashpee
Wampanoag Tribe to complete its half a billion dollar casino resort complex in
Taunton.
The Massachusetts legislature approved three full casinos plus one slot parlor in Massachusetts, and the Taunton site is the furthest along. All four Massachusetts facilities should be up and running no later than 2016.
The Massachusetts legislature approved three full casinos plus one slot parlor in Massachusetts, and the Taunton site is the furthest along. All four Massachusetts facilities should be up and running no later than 2016.
...But not for long: The Mashpee Wampanoag plan for Taunton |
Imagine
Disney World with slot machines and blackjack tables – that’s the plan for the
tribal casino in Taunton. It will almost certainly take a huge bite out of Twin
River, even though Twin River has a modest head-start as it expands to full
casino operations within the next few months.
A new
UMASS-Dartmouth study says that because Rhode Island counts so heavily on Massachusetts
gamblers to keep Twin River (as well as Newport Grand) viable as Rhode
Island’s third-largest source of revenue, these new facilities in
Massachusetts are bad news for Rhode Island’s gambling prospects.
Of the
580,000 people who visited Twin River in 2012, 385,000 came from Massachusetts.
Only 162,000 were Rhode Islanders. A 2012 study commissioned
by the Governor projects a loss of more than 30% of fiscal 2016-17 revenue when
the new Massachusetts facilities are due to be open and running.
Clearly, the huge number of Massachusetts gamblers is what drives the Commonwealth’s casino plan despite the otherwise awful economics of casino gaming. Massachusetts assumes its gamblers will go to its new state-of-the-art facilities and not travel to Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, Twin River, Newport Grand or Maine's racino.
Time will tell whether they are right, but all of these factors also make it seem pretty silly to worry about a Narragansett Indian casino some years away in Charlestown's future.
Especially since the Tribe hasn’t asked for one since the early 1990s when were turned down by the Democrats who controlled the Town Council at the time. The Tribe was serious about building a new casino in West Warwick, where local voters thought that would be a great tonic to their ailing community. However, they lost a statewide referendum on that project.
Clearly, the huge number of Massachusetts gamblers is what drives the Commonwealth’s casino plan despite the otherwise awful economics of casino gaming. Massachusetts assumes its gamblers will go to its new state-of-the-art facilities and not travel to Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, Twin River, Newport Grand or Maine's racino.
Time will tell whether they are right, but all of these factors also make it seem pretty silly to worry about a Narragansett Indian casino some years away in Charlestown's future.
Especially since the Tribe hasn’t asked for one since the early 1990s when were turned down by the Democrats who controlled the Town Council at the time. The Tribe was serious about building a new casino in West Warwick, where local voters thought that would be a great tonic to their ailing community. However, they lost a statewide referendum on that project.
The Narragansetts welcomed white settlers to Rhode Island |
If the tribe had succeeded, that would have eliminated any possibility of a Charlestown casino – but then Larisa would have to give up his $25,000 annual retainer from the town to fight anything the Tribe wants to do.
However,
there are so many
other obstacles to a Charlestown casino that I keep asking why the
CCA Party continues to make it a perennial issue – other than for cynical
political gain.
When the Narragansetts received federal recognition, they accepted restrictions that make a casino impossible in the 1978 Rhode Island Indian Claims Settlement Act that gave the Tribe title to 1800 acres in Charlestown. They also relinquished all claims to any other lands – so the persistent rumor that Charlestown property titles are still clouded is simply untrue.
When the Narragansetts received federal recognition, they accepted restrictions that make a casino impossible in the 1978 Rhode Island Indian Claims Settlement Act that gave the Tribe title to 1800 acres in Charlestown. They also relinquished all claims to any other lands – so the persistent rumor that Charlestown property titles are still clouded is simply untrue.
But things didn't work out the way the Tribe hoped |
When the tribe tried to put 31 non-settlement acres into federal trust for a low-income senior citizens housing project, Charlestown, and ultimately the state of Rhode Island sued. This led to the notorious 2009 Carcieri v. Salazar US Supreme Court decision.
In that
decision, the Court’s conservative majority held that Congress was unclear when
it enacted the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act whether the law applied to all
federally recognized tribes, then and in the future, or only to those tribes
that were federally recognized in 1934.
They
stripped basic sovereignty rights from the Narragansetts and more than 500
tribes who were recognized after 1934. Since then, some members of Congress and
the Obama Administration have tried to pass a “Carcieri
Fix” to say that Congress intends federal laws to apply equally to all
tribes, regardless of the date of federal recognition.
The Narragansetts' initial land claim (red), latter expanded to include pink area |
In an interview
with Indian County Today, Rep. Hanabusa was asked if she was
confident that, this time, a Carcieri Fix might get passed. She was not
optimistic: “
I don’t know if confident is the exact word. It’s the same basic bill [click here to read] that Sen. Akaka offered when he chaired the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and I am hoping it will carry. The concern I have is that we have seen other Carcieri bills offered from the other side of the aisle, and they also haven’t been able to be successful.”
I don’t know if confident is the exact word. It’s the same basic bill [click here to read] that Sen. Akaka offered when he chaired the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and I am hoping it will carry. The concern I have is that we have seen other Carcieri bills offered from the other side of the aisle, and they also haven’t been able to be successful.”
The
interviewer noted that even within the Indian community, there are divisions
about the language of a Carcieri Fix. Some tribes who already have casinos are
not keen about competition from other tribes. Hanabusa sees such divisions –
and efforts to amend the bill to placate the tribes with large casinos – as
fatal to a “clean” Carcieri Fix bill.
An example
of how the rivalry between “haves” and “have-nots” among the tribes shows
itself in a recent Senate bill. Sen. Diane
Feinstein (D-CA) has sponsored bill (S-477) to amend §2719
of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act that would restrict the types of
properties tribes may use for gambling establishments.
Feinstein’s
bill would impose two new hurdles for a tribe seeking to take land into trust
for a gambling establishment: (1) a substantial, direct, modern
connection to the land if the land is located within a 25-mile radius of the
tribal headquarters or other tribal governmental facilities on its reservation,
and (2) demonstrates a substantial, direct, aboriginal connection to land.
According to Joe Valandra, a Sicangu Lakota and former chief of staff of the
National Indian Gaming Commission, Feinstein’s second restriction “comes along with nearly impossible review
standards to be applied by the BIA.”
So any land
acquired by the Narragansett Indian Tribe after October 1988 would, on top of
everything else, be bound by these restrictions, which Valandra describes as
biased in favor of tribes with existing casinos.
If you use the
ruler tool in Google Earth and measure 25 miles out from the tribe’s longhouse,
you reach Tiverton to the east, Cranston to the north and past Foxwoods and New
London and Norwich to the west.
Then read up on the complex history of the many
tribes that have lived in Rhode Island and nearby Connecticut.
Approximate tribal land areas before European settlers |
But this potential
new federal restriction is but one of many federal laws that any proposed
casino would have to meet.
As I wrote here, the facility would face daunting challenges meeting federal requirements for water, transportation, waste disposal, plus fish, migratory birds and wildlife regulations that would be enforced locally by Charlie Vandemoer, manager of Rhode Island’s National Wildlife Refuges, including Ninigret.
As I wrote here, the facility would face daunting challenges meeting federal requirements for water, transportation, waste disposal, plus fish, migratory birds and wildlife regulations that would be enforced locally by Charlie Vandemoer, manager of Rhode Island’s National Wildlife Refuges, including Ninigret.
Then throw in the
economy, including the terrible market timing. What do you think of the
Narragansetts’ prospects of getting a casino anywhere, never mind in
Charlestown?
If the CCA
Party is really and truly worried that, despite all the problems and barriers,
the Tribe might want to try to build a casino in Charlestown, the CCA should
prove it by supporting the town’s purchase of one of the key pieces of land
where such a facility might be sited – Larry LeBlanc’s 81 acre Whalerock wind
farm/affordable housing proposal. In case you haven’t read them, here are my Five
Reasons Why Charlestown Should Get Serious about Buying LarryLand.
The CCA Party
needs to stop the
fear-mongering and the racial undertones that come with it. The tribe and its members
are our neighbors. They are an important part of our community yet we treat
them as enemies.
The CCA Party has demanded, as a condition of friendship, that the Tribe signs a binding pledge to forego any future casino ambitions. Yet, for all practical purposes, that is exactly what the Tribe already did when it signed the land settlement agreement.
The CCA Party has demanded, as a condition of friendship, that the Tribe signs a binding pledge to forego any future casino ambitions. Yet, for all practical purposes, that is exactly what the Tribe already did when it signed the land settlement agreement.