Behind the face of proposition 48
Brandon Bishoff
AIS 103: American Indian Studies
Introduction The laws and regulations surrounding Indian casinos has always been a tough issue to tackle. Tribes have some limited rights to govern themselves without any interference from the state. The only form of authority the state possesses on this matter is to enforce federal laws and federally approved agreements; they cannot create new laws to place on the tribes. Not all Indian lands can be used to place casinos on. A federal law prevents gaming rights on Indian land obtained after October 17th, 1988. There are a few exceptions to this rule however, gaming privileges may be granted if the federal government determines that it is in the…show more content… They are required to contribute funds towards things like the Revenue Sharing Trust Fund (RSTF) and the Special Distribution Fund (SDF). The RSTF is distributed to seventy-three other Indian tribes that do not operate casinos or tribes that do not own more than three hundred and fifty slot machines. Tribes that draw upon this fund are allotted a maximum of 1.1 million dollars per year. The SDF serves various purposes, it enforces the payments to the RSTF, funds programs that assist people with gambling issues, pays for the costs that the state has to pay to regulate the Indian casinos, and it pays local governments that are affected by the casino’s…show more content… It has escalated to the point where the federal government has had to get involved and shut the entire thing down. Their first step was to deal with the recent attack on the Chukchansi casino. That got rid of one issue but caused more, that casino may never open again. If it does open it will not be for a long time because it is wrapped up in the legal system.
The Wiyot tribe may not have been allowed to open a casino on their reservation land but they have been awarded an annual 6 million dollars. 120 million dollars over a 20-year period is not a low amount of money. They could use that money to follow other business ventures and maybe find another form of revenue that is as successful as Indian casinos. The payment they would receive from the Wiyot would not be their only source of money; they can still draw upon the Revenue Sharing Trust Fund to gain an additional 1.1 million dollars, which brings their total up to 7.1 million
