Hot on the heels of proposed legislation to ban online gambling in the United States, comes anti-gaming legislation to block all future tribal land claims for the establishment of casinos beyond their own communities. The new bill, introduced by Richard Pombo (R-Calif) the chairman of the House Resources Committee, would authorize state and local officials to extract further concessions from tribes, and is similar to a measure introduced last year intended to stop what has become known as ‘reservation shopping’.

This backlash against Indian gaming by some US legislators comes after several years of highly profitable tribal casino operations around the country. When the original 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) was passed, there was no indication that gambling would become the popular and lucrative industry that has developed. In 2004 there were over 400 tribal casinos with revenue of some US$18.5 billion. In California there are now around 40 proposals to establish off-reservation casinos.

Pombo’s gaming bill seeks to repeal the section in IGRA that authorizes reservation shopping in limited circumstances, making it impossible for tribes to acquire lands outside their reservations. The bill would also give local communities and state officials the power to decide whether a casino should open in their area. Pombo is quoted as saying that he is attempting to deal with a problem of Indian gaming expanding into areas to a degree that no one envisaged. (E-03.09.06)

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