According to IGRA, money made in the casinos can only be used for certain purposes, including the running of tribal government and services, payouts to tribal members and donations to charitable organizations. A few years later, Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, (IGRA) that established – and regulated – gambling on tribal lands. Shelley BuckIts economic revival began in 1984 when the tribe opened Treasure Island Bingo. She’s also proud that tribal enterprises, which include the second-largest hotel in the state and a golf course, employs between 1,500 and 1,700 people. “It funds our government, it makes us self-sufficient,” said Shelley Buck, tribal council vice president for the Prairie Island Indian Community, a Dakota tribe.īuck is proud that the tribe’s Treasure Island Resort and Casino, located about 36 miles south of the Twin Cities, can book some of the biggest names in show business, including Carrie Underwood and Santana. But some tribes make a lot of money from gaming, enough to give healthy payouts to tribal members and pay for the college tuition of their young people, while other tribes are raising significantly less money from their enterprises.

Minnesota’s 11 federally recognized tribes have all come to depend on the money gamblers lose or spend otherwise at their 19 casinos. WASHINGTON - The revenue from American Indian gaming enterprises in Minnesota has grown steadily, peaking last year at $1.6 billion.

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