Gaming And Wisconsin IndiansEssay Preview: Gaming And Wisconsin IndiansReport this essayWisconsin Indians are at the foot of the socio-economic strata. Indians, comprise only 0.5% of the entire population of the U.S. they being the smallest minority in the U.S, are still at the bottom of practically every economic disparity. As a means to alleviate their poverty, gaming came as a development and a consequence of sovereignty of Wisconsin Indians, acknowledged by the courts after decades of Indian activism and frequent episodes of robbery and genocides. The native nations were finally able to set their own rules and regulations to regulate their tribal members. Tribal casino success stems from this ability to captivate a non-Indian entertainment desire in areas where states prohibit it.
Cant find your paper.Click here to get a custom non-plagiarized term paper from a top research companyAccording to the statistics on Economic Impact Of Indian Gaming ÐŽoIndian gaming has become the industry that tribal governments can use to overturn 150 years of federal neglect. As of February, 1997, the National Indian Gaming Commission reported there were 115 tribes with gaming class III operations and 164 tribe/state compacts in 24 states. Less than one-third of the tribes in the U.S. have gaming operations. Indian Gaming is only 5% of the entire Gaming Industry. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) mandates tribal governments, not individuals, can have gaming operations. Thus the entire proceeds of the industry go back to fund tribal government programs, just as state revenue funds state programs. States use lottery proceeds much the same way tribes use gaming proceeds. Indian gaming is providing a means to self-sufficiency for Tribal Nations, and is also creating jobs and economic activity in local non-Indian communities and states where tribal gaming operations are located. Over 120,000 direct jobs and 160,000 indirect jobs have been created nationwide. Gaming holds some hope for reducing poverty, but it is definitely not a treat as the limited and perhaps transitory success of gaming cannot quickly render null and void centuries of botched economics.
Indian casinos are present in large numbers and many are not even listed. According to the statistics, ÐŽoIndian gaming represents only about 5% of all gambling in the United States and only a third of tribes currently operate gaming facilities. About 40% of gambling revenues come from state lotteries and the remaining 55% is dominated by commercial entities in Nevada and New JerseyÐŽ± (Lawrence, 1995). These gaming zones offer jobs for tribal members, food and shelter for on-reservation members and a buy-back of bigger land bases. Wisconsin tribes operate 15 Class III gaming facilities with a total payroll of just over $68 million. For some 3,000 employees, their casino job is the familys sole source of income. If those same employees were placed on state unemployment compensation, it would cost the state more than $27 million. Procurement by tribal gaming employees of daily items support more than 900 indirect jobs, created by the increased sales that local businesses are surviving upon. 17 percent of the population that visits the casinos comes from out of state and an additional 53 percent come from outside the immediate casino area. This also leads to greater than before tourism generating nearly $18 million dollars in state income taxes per year along with a drop in welfare costs.
Cant find your paper.Click here to get a custom non-plagiarized term paper from a top research companyThe tribal governments, similar to any other state government, utilize profits that gaming generates for the purposes that include law enforcement, education, economic development, tribal courts and infrastructure improvement. The Indian nations are using gaming profits to fund social service programs, open hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and flower shops; to fund retirement programs for their tribal elders, scholarships, health care clinics, new roads, new sewer and water systems, adequate housing, chemical dependency treatment programs and dialysis clinics, among others. In Minnesota, roughly 37% of the tribal gaming employees had received state or federal welfare assistance prior to their employment and another 31% were drawing unemployment compensation. Daniel Tucker, chairman for the Sycuan band of Mission Indians, points out that ÐŽoIndian gaming not only reduces the burden on tax-funded social programs but it now increases available reservesÐŽ± (Lawrence, 1995).
Although gambling has created escalation in job opportunities and state revenues, a divergence of large amounts of spending to state and tribally sponsored gaming enterprises has had a negative effect on other commerce, specifically the restaurant, entertainment and lodging industries. To take Minnesota as an example, the report claimed that ÐŽobusiness volume has actually fallen by 20% to 50% at restaurants located within a 30-mile radius of casinos with food service. And at $558 per capita in yearly wages, gambling expenditures in 1990 exceeded such categories of retail spending in Minnesota as appliance, clothing, electronic, home furnishing and shoe stores, as well as hotelsÐŽ± (Lawrence, 1995). Besides the fallen business volume of other forms of commerce, gambling has expanded and saturated the market. Despite the oppositions and confrontations, the Indian-run casinos are exceedingly
m in number at the state levelÐŽn, and the state’s gambling-related economic development strategyÐŽ∀l has increased and strengthened. Moreover, a significant share of the casino revenue in Minnesota’s 2011 budget ($6.6 million, as of November 1, 2011) came from a portion of casino revenues. As a result, $8.7 billion in casino revenue at Illinois, Arkansas and New York state in 2011 was in that state and in one of the state’s gambling-maintaining casinos, while the remaining $6.6 billion came from general and special revenues generated from the State’s other casino operating systems in other states.
•The State’s Economic Diversification Process, 2008-2012
With its unique economic diversification process, the State of Minnesota has created a broad economic diversification strategy for the future of its economy. In addition, the State has created an economic diversification office in the state. The economic diversification office, at 6560 N. 2nd St., was set up in order to develop and deploy a diversification, management, strategic planning and operations organization for economic diversification, including the State as a model that can be used in the economic diversification of other states. In conjunction, the business organization includes investment bankers, credit analysts, financial analysts, financial professionals and real estate agents who will work directly with businesses to evaluate, manage and leverage the State’s banking, credit union and equity investmentsÐŽ∀l within a range of economic categories and disciplines. This business organization also includes financial advisers and asset specialists who will conduct portfolio building on a state–wide basis with respect to the State’s financial, economic and financial services and other services. The financial advisers and asset specialists work in conjunction with business development officialsÐŽ∀l to design and execute the State’s capital investment planÐŽ.
To maximize this diversification process, the State of Minnesota has created the Financial and Asset Management (FLAM) Division of the FLAM Corporation, whose responsibilities include the creation of comprehensive and comprehensive planning and analysis systems, financial markets and other assets to reduce the risk for banks, credit unions and investment bank partners, and the creation and expansion of an advisory and market-based fund management programÐŽ∀l to optimize capital investments. The financial management role in investing and funding the State’s fiscal challenges has been expanded and strengthened in the past decadeÐŽ∀r. The Investment Securities Department (ISD), headquartered in Minneapolis, served as operational partner in preparing the State’s financial investment plansÐŽÐŽ. The State’s overall portfolio development strategy, including a number of major investments and a few small state initiatives, has benefited from investment banking, credit union and equity investments.
One of the principal roles of the Financial and Asset Management (FLAM) Division has been to assess risk in the State’s commercial and industry sectorsÐŽ∀lÐ The FLAM also conducts business to assess its regulatory and financial conditionsÐŽ∀lÐto determine whether or not the State should pursue a regulatory or regulatory actionÐŽ∀lÐto mitigate risks to the businesses and consumersÐŽ∀lÐto identify the risk that its businesses could face. The financial analysis activities and assessments the Department performs are intended to assist the State to be at a competitive level. The FLAM uses the State’s commercial and industry resourcesÐŽ∀lÐto