Alabama: Indian Gaming Benefits More Than Just Tribes

While political opposition still sometimes flares up, with some form of legal gaming available in all but two states, there now is little question that gaming is widely accepted in the United States. In 2014, commercial casino gaming revenues were slightly less than $38 billion, and tribal gaming represented an additional $28.5 billion. These are significant economic contributors, and tribal gaming is especially important in helping improve conditions in many communities.

Tribal gaming is a unique economic engine. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), which was enacted in 1988 to provide a statutory basis for the regulation of gaming on Indian lands, prohibits using net revenues from Indian gaming for any purpose other than funding tribal government operations or programs; providing for general welfare of the tribe and its members; promoting tribal economic development; donating to charitable organizations; or helping fund local government agencies’ operations. The dedication of tribal gaming revenues to these beneficial purposes has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into health and welfare programs, education, housing and public safety, assisting not only tribal members, but the surrounding communities.

The Poarch Creek Indians (PCI) in Alabama illustrate this point. Since achieving federal recognition in 1984, they have grown their gaming economic development operations from a small bingo hall with 130 jobs to three major casinos and a growing number of non-gaming enterprises with a combined total of nearly 4,000 employees, most of whom are not enrolled tribal members.  The casinos are “destinations,” with first class restaurants, spas and entertainment venues, including recreation for the local communities such as movie theaters, arcades and bowling alleys. In keeping with the IGRA rules, their revenues fund health clinics, elderly housing, scholarships, and even a 15,000 acre wildlife preserve. They funded the construction and on-going full-time staffing of two fire and rescue stations that serve the entire community and have joint assistance agreements between their tribal police and two sheriff’s departments to help with local law enforcement.

PCI has generously fulfilled the IGRA provision that allows “helping fund local government agencies’ operations,” with substantial donations to schools, transportation, hospitals, public safety operations and other local government functions. They make charitable gifts to a broad range of agencies and have an endowment program to which anyone can apply for up to $5,000 to fund a community service program.

Perhaps even more remarkable is the Creek Indian Enterprises Development Authority through which PCI is expanding their business operations into a diversified group of enterprises bringing economic development to the entire state, and especially good jobs to areas where, not so long ago, share cropping was still prevalent. PCI operates a major interstate truck stop, convenience stores, hotels and restaurants not connected to gaming, one of the largest cattle farming operations in Alabama and a high-tech manufacturing facility serving the aircraft and automobile industries and supplying parts for space vehicles. As an indicator of the Tribe’s sound economic development strategy, in 2015, these business enterprises were self-sustaining, with no supplemental funding from the gamng operations.

The drafters of the IGRA legislation intended it to be a vehicle to provide the ability for Indians to benefit their communities and help tribal members escape wide-spread poverty. The PCI economic development focus is a demonstration of the wisdom of that policy.

© 2016 Jones Walker LLP

Legalize Poker? Expert Witnesses Will Be Responsible

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As poker continues to rise in popularity in mainstream America, it could very well be expert witnesses who ultimately cause the game to become largely legalized.

Over the last decade, poker (specifically Texas Hold’em poker) has emerged from the back rooms of smoky taverns, exited the underground gambling dens of low-level mobsters, and announced itself to conventional society as being a legitimate contest between skilled competitors.

The general public has been receptive. Multimillion-dollar tournaments are now televised on ESPN as more and more Americans are playing online every day, most of the time illegally through websites based offshore or overseas.

As the public watches often-familiar, famous faces continue to make final tables and win, television-viewers are able to witness each player’s strategy, lending to the idea that the game is based more on skill than chance. This fact, according to experts, distinguishes poker from “gambling” and should thus remove poker from the jurisdiction of state gambling laws.

“It is my considered opinion, based on my experience, on research that I have personally conducted, and on a review of the scholarly literature, that Texas Hold’em is a game in which skill predominates over chance in determining the outcome,” wrote expert witness Robert C. Hannum, a professor of risk analysis and gaming at the University of Denver, in an affidavit filed last month in a Wisconsin circuit court. “Thus, in my opinion, it would be incorrect to describe Texas Hold’em as a game of chance.”

The lawsuit, Verrett and Kroon v. Schimel, was filed by a poker advocacy group against the state attorney general and seeks declaratory judgment to have the court rule poker as a bona fide game of skill. A decision of such would thereby allow a poker player to gamble legally on the outcome of oneself, similar to lawfully betting on yourself in darts, pool, golf, tennis, or even pie-eating.

Hannum’s statistically exhaustive 22-page expert witness affidavit goes to great lengths to show how little chance (or how the cards are dealt) affects the overall outcome in poker. He cites statistics and mathematical analysis and extensively examines other scientific studies on poker.

“In contrast with these numerous studies finding that skill predominates over chance in poker, I am aware of no study reaching the conclusion that poker is a game predominately of chance,” Hannum writes. “In my opinion, the studies above establish conclusively that in the long run, skill predominates over chance in poker.”

To the average legal observer, it would seem that a judge will be hard-pressed to disagree with Hannum and the associated statistical science and would thus be forced by sheer mathematics to rule in favor of poker’s categorization as a game of skill rather than an act of gambling.

While the case will directly affect only poker players in Wisconsin, it’s difficult to think that the trend will not follow across the United States.

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ABA Gaming Law Minefield Conference – February 14-15, 2013

The National Law Review is pleased to bring you information about the upcoming ABA Gaming Law Minefield Conference:

ABA Gaming Law Feb 14-15, 2013

When

February 14 – 15, 2013

Where

  • Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa
  • 2300 Paseo Verde Pkwy
  • Las Vegas, NV 89101
  • United States of America
 
The program will discuss revolutionary legal, regulator, and ethical issues confronting both commercial and Native American gaming.  Attendees will learn about global anti-corruption initiatives, Internet gaming, and the challenges faced by commercial and Native American gaming.

ABA Gaming Law Minefield Conference – February 14-15, 2013

The National Law Review is pleased to bring you information about the upcoming ABA Gaming Law Minefield Conference:

ABA Gaming Law Feb 14-15, 2013

When

February 14 – 15, 2013

Where

  • Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa
  • 2300 Paseo Verde Pkwy
  • Las Vegas, NV 89101
  • United States of America
 
The program will discuss revolutionary legal, regulator, and ethical issues confronting both commercial and Native American gaming.  Attendees will learn about global anti-corruption initiatives, Internet gaming, and the challenges faced by commercial and Native American gaming.

ABA Gaming Law Minefield Conference – February 14-15, 2013

The National Law Review is pleased to bring you information about the upcoming ABA Gaming Law Minefield Conference:

ABA Gaming Law Feb 14-15, 2013

When

February 14 – 15, 2013

Where

  • Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa
  • 2300 Paseo Verde Pkwy
  • Las Vegas, NV 89101
  • United States of America
 
The program will discuss revolutionary legal, regulator, and ethical issues confronting both commercial and Native American gaming.  Attendees will learn about global anti-corruption initiatives, Internet gaming, and the challenges faced by commercial and Native American gaming.

ABA Gaming Law Minefield Conference – February 14-15, 2013

The National Law Review is pleased to bring you information about the upcoming ABA Gaming Law Minefield Conference:

ABA Gaming Law Feb 14-15, 2013

When

February 14 – 15, 2013

Where

  • Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa
  • 2300 Paseo Verde Pkwy
  • Las Vegas, NV 89101
  • United States of America
 
The program will discuss revolutionary legal, regulator, and ethical issues confronting both commercial and Native American gaming.  Attendees will learn about global anti-corruption initiatives, Internet gaming, and the challenges faced by commercial and Native American gaming.

ABA Gaming Law Minefield Conference – February 14-15, 2013

The National Law Review is pleased to bring you information about the upcoming ABA Gaming Law Minefield Conference:

ABA Gaming Law Feb 14-15, 2013

When

February 14 – 15, 2013

Where

  • Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa
  • 2300 Paseo Verde Pkwy
  • Las Vegas, NV 89101
  • United States of America
 
The program will discuss revolutionary legal, regulator, and ethical issues confronting both commercial and Native American gaming.  Attendees will learn about global anti-corruption initiatives, Internet gaming, and the challenges faced by commercial and Native American gaming.

ABA Gaming Law Minefield Conference – February 14-15, 2013

The National Law Review is pleased to bring you information about the upcoming ABA Gaming Law Minefield Conference:

ABA Gaming Law Feb 14-15, 2013

When

February 14 – 15, 2013

Where

  • Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa
  • 2300 Paseo Verde Pkwy
  • Las Vegas, NV 89101
  • United States of America
 
The program will discuss revolutionary legal, regulator, and ethical issues confronting both commercial and Native American gaming.  Attendees will learn about global anti-corruption initiatives, Internet gaming, and the challenges faced by commercial and Native American gaming.

ABA Gaming Law Minefield Conference – February 14-15, 2013

The National Law Review is pleased to bring you information about the upcoming ABA Gaming Law Minefield Conference:

ABA Gaming Law Feb 14-15, 2013

When

February 14 – 15, 2013

Where

  • Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa
  • 2300 Paseo Verde Pkwy
  • Las Vegas, NV 89101
  • United States of America
 
The program will discuss revolutionary legal, regulator, and ethical issues confronting both commercial and Native American gaming.  Attendees will learn about global anti-corruption initiatives, Internet gaming, and the challenges faced by commercial and Native American gaming.

ABA Gaming Law Minefield Conference – February 14-15, 2013

The National Law Review is pleased to bring you information about the upcoming ABA Gaming Law Minefield Conference:

ABA Gaming Law Feb 14-15, 2013

When

February 14 – 15, 2013

Where

  • Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa
  • 2300 Paseo Verde Pkwy
  • Las Vegas, NV 89101
  • United States of America
 
The program will discuss revolutionary legal, regulator, and ethical issues confronting both commercial and Native American gaming.  Attendees will learn about global anti-corruption initiatives, Internet gaming, and the challenges faced by commercial and Native American gaming.