Assessing the Impact of Indian Gaming on American Indian Nations: Is the House Winning?

Abstract

Objective. The objective of this article is to examine the impact of Indian gaming on reservation conditions in the contiguous American states following passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988. Methods. Utilizing 1990 and 2000 Census data for 330 Indian nations, a pretest/posttest design permits a comparison of nongaming nations to three different types of gaming nations on eight economic measures, while controlling for multiple tribal characteristics and considering the effects of certain state contextual factors confronting nations due to location. Results. The analysis reveals (1) that the overall impact of gaming, while generally positive, is not as extensive after controlling for certain tribal features, (2) that there are differential effects evident across the three types of gaming nations, and (3) that the state context makes a difference in influencing the relationship between gaming and reservation conditions. The most substantial impacts are for a small subset of nations with Class III gaming and making per capita payments to their members in larger, wealthier states prohibiting non-Indian casinos. Conclusion. These results challenge some of the core assumptions about Indian gaming radically changing the poor economic conditions endemic to Indian country

Indian Country Poverty: Place‐Based Poverty on American Indian Territories, 2006–10

“…The results here further showed that presence of a gaming compact had a relatively lower effect on poverty than other opportunity structure variables. This finding is consistent with a recent study that indicated that the magnitude of gaming effects is reduced when controlling for other tribal features (Conner and Taggart ). Such mitigated effects of gaming on reservation incomes were also reported by Taylor and Kalt (), who found that between 1970 and 2000 incomes on gaming reservations grew by 36 percent and by 30 percent on nongaming reservations.…”

20 Years of Indian Gaming: Reassessing and Still Winning

“…Table provides the descriptive statistics and the expected relationship of these IVs to the DVs. Following Conner and Taggart () all expected relationships are positive, but the magnitude of the testing results is expected to differ.…”

“…Other studies have attempted to investigate how this growth in Indian gaming revenues impacts actual reservation conditions. Indian gaming activities have reduced unemployment and improved income levels on tribal land (Akee, Spilde, and Taylor, :202; Corkin, :54–55; Evans and Topoleski, ; Conner and Taggart, ), and have increased employment by about 26 percent within 4+ years of initiation (Evans and Topoleski, ). We explore the durability of the Indian gaming industry in continuing to improve reservation conditions.…”

“…Conner and Taggart () also explored the impact of per capita payments to tribal members. The impacts were not consistent, with Class III tribes with per capita payments experiencing greater gains in improved income levels and reduced unemployment compared to their gaming and nongaming counterparts.…”

“…They found that the adoption of Indian gaming during the 1990s has had a positive impact across a variety of conditions spanning income levels, unemployment rates, and the need for public assistance. Conner and Taggart (2013) also explored the impact of per capita payments to tribal members. The impacts were not consistent, with Class III tribes with per capita payments experiencing greater gains in improved income levels and reduced unemployment compared to their gaming and nongaming counterparts.…”