This question has been bugging me as a Massachusetts resident. The Wampanoag tribe has been trying to negotiate with Massachusetts about opening a casino in southeastern Massachusetts. This is on purchased land. I assume it’s not on a reservation otherwise Wampanoags would just open the casino without the need for state approval. Two questions:
Why don’t the Wampanoag’s simply open a casino on their reservation without Massachusetts approval? I’m sure Massachusetts would want a cut for their blessing on non-reservation land. Why would the Native Americans want to share the profits?
Q#2: If the state of Massachusetts is going to allow gambling within its borders, why doesn’t the state simply open their own casino so that they don’t have to share the revenue with the Wampanoags?
Could it be that they think the purchased site is a better place for a casino than the reservation?
Perhaps they didn’t feel like risking the money to open their own casino. This way, Massachusets has nothing to lose if the casino fails.
A lot of it has to do with taxation, and federal tax on the income generated (pretty high, IIRC). Even if the Wampanoag tribe opened up without MA approval, Uncle Sam would step in and would probably shut them down under Federal Racketeering and Extortion laws, or would tag them for Gambling violations. It’s also a possibility (as it was for the Ramapo tribe in Northern New Jersey, where I’m orignally from) that while the state may recognize a tribe as legitimate, The Federal Government may not. That would impede the legal process of getting all the permits to operate a legitimate casino.
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It’s more a question of state law. Some states simply don’t allow gambling at all. Some send this decision down to the local municipalities, like say, Atlantic City, Las Vegas, or my humble Minot, ND. Here in NoDak, gambling per se is not legal: The house cannot take any income from it. All of the proceeds must go to a charity (ie. Minot Local Hockey Boosters, or the NoDak Handicapped Association). Native Americans do not have this restriction, because they are technically on federally soverign land. They have some laws they can flat out ignore, and some they still have to obey.
Tripler
Are you more confused? Damn . . .