Native Americans and State Compacts

Revisiting the 'class' of slot
machines

By JOHN G. BROKOPP
For
Sun-Times Media
Questions always come in about the
differences between
playing slot
machines in a state-regulated casino
and playing them in a
Native American
owned property.

It's a subject worth revisiting. The
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was written
in 1988 by the federal
government to
provide the framework for what type of
gambling the Native
American tribes were
going to be able to offer on their
reservations.

The legislators wound up breaking
gambling down into three
categories:
Class I gambling: Non-commercial,
social gambling;
Class
II gambling: Bingo, lotto, punch
boards, pull tabs and card games that
aren't house-banked; and Class III
gambling: Traditional Las Vegas
style,
state-regulated gambling including slots,
video poker and table
games.

Native American tribes are
permitted to conduct Class III
gambling on their
reservations only if they negotiate
compacts with the
governments of the
individual states in which they are
located. Many, in
fact, have done this.