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Wampum: How Indian Tribes, the Mafia, and an Inattentive Congress Invented Indian Gaming and Created a $28 Billion Gambling Empire
In 2015, 239 Indian tribes operated 478 casinos, high-stakes bingo halls, and other gambling facilities on Indian reservations in 28 states that collectively earned $28.5 billion in gross gaming revenue. How did Indian gambling become such a lucrative and commonplace fixture of the American landscape? In Wampum, Donald Craig Mitchell tells the never-before-told story.
In 1979, the Mafia opened the nation's first high-stakes Indian bingo hall on the Seminole reservation in Florida. Nine years later, Indian tribes were operating bingo halls on reservations in 23 states. Congress enacted the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act to subject gambling on reservations to regulation by the federal government and the states in which the reservations were located. But, while members of Congress who voted for the bill didn't intend for it to do so, the act facilitated the transformation of Indian bingo halls into what they are today—Las Vegas-style casinos whose gaming floors contain more than 352,000 video slot and other gaming machines.
On Capitol Hill, Donald Craig Mitchell is a recognized expert on Indian law and history, and the only researcher who had early access to the records of the committees whose members and staff wrote the bills that became the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. In Wampum, he offers readers the first comprehensive look at the forces in Congress and inside the Bureau of Indian Affairs that have created the Indian gaming industry.
In 1979, the Mafia opened the nation's first high-stakes Indian bingo hall on the Seminole reservation in Florida. Nine years later, Indian tribes were operating bingo halls on reservations in 23 states. Congress enacted the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act to subject gambling on reservations to regulation by the federal government and the states in which the reservations were located. But, while members of Congress who voted for the bill didn't intend for it to do so, the act facilitated the transformation of Indian bingo halls into what they are today—Las Vegas-style casinos whose gaming floors contain more than 352,000 video slot and other gaming machines.
On Capitol Hill, Donald Craig Mitchell is a recognized expert on Indian law and history, and the only researcher who had early access to the records of the committees whose members and staff wrote the bills that became the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. In Wampum, he offers readers the first comprehensive look at the forces in Congress and inside the Bureau of Indian Affairs that have created the Indian gaming industry.
- GenresNonfictionPolitics
496 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 1, 2015
4 people are currently reading
67 people want to read
About the author
Donald Craig Mitchell
4 books1 followerDonald Craig Mitchell is a former vice president and general counsel of the Alaska Federation of Natives, organized by Alaska Natives in 1967 to fight for their historic land claims settlement. For more than two decades he has been intimately involved, both before Congress and in the courts, in the development and implementation of federal Native policy.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 29, 2018
This is the amazing, almost unbelievable story of Indian gambling in America. It will make you laugh, cry, and rage. It will confuse you and overload you with detail. But readers will definitely learn something from this book. The subtitle mentions the Mafia. Well, gambling attracts shady people, especially if the gambling is possibly legal. Throughout the book, Mitchell struggles to attach Indian gambling to the Mafia. Yes, he found some real-life Mafia guys connected to the casinos; but they were few and far between. Their role is to help sell the real story.
Native Americans have long been treated badly by the federal government. There was hardly any treaty that was not quickly broken and ignored by the United States. By the 1930s the Indian wars were over, and the Indians found themselves grounded in small reservations of dire poverty. A small branch of New Deal bureaucrats reformed the federal approach to Native Americans and created the vague notion of inherent sovereignty. This means that the recognized tribes were here before the United States and therefore, have self-rule. No one paid this guideline much attention until a small dispute over tax-free cigarettes sold on a reservation in Washington state went before the courts. A sympathetic judge determined that the tribes had inherent sovereignty and did not need to pay state tobacco taxes. The American legal system places a great deal of emphasis on precedence, so this seemingly innocuous ruling in state taxes became the basis for a string of other court cases.
Mitchell makes a strong argument that the tribes were not the ones at fault. His main argument is that shady gambling operators took advantage of the tribes (and still do) and the politicians to continually push the legal borders. Mitchell describes numerous instances where the management companies and operators were skimming money from the tribes. But he has little definitive proof because inherent sovereignty means that what happens in those casinos is known only to the tribes. There is little or no government oversight.
Mitchell tries to connect the management companies and operators to organized crime. There are connections. However, readers looking especially at the Mafia connections will likely conclude that these were the exceptions rather than the norm. The Los Angeles Mafia was known derisively as the Micky Mouse Mafia for a reason. They were not secretly controlling Indian gambling. Nor for that matter was the Pittsburgh Mafia which was nearly extinct by the 1990s. The occasional Mafioso connection to a bingo hall or casino was slight and probably quickly replaced by more corporate (and legally acceptable) operators. The greatest evidence of organized crime infiltration in the casinos was from an aggressive Sheriff in Los Angeles who offered little concrete proof other than claiming the Mafia was involved. Readers will learn something new about the mob and some mobsters; but they are rare in the book.
Readers are much more likely to learn about Congress and government bureaucracy. This is where the real story occurs. Mitchell reveals how Congress operates. Overburdened, yet possibly well-meaning, congressmen rely on staffers to take notes at hearings and meetings on certain issues, and then give them a digest of the key ideas. For legislation that is not considered to be controversial, congressional procedures allow no roll-call voting to pass. Into this nexus went a string of legislation intended to control Indian gambling. While only a few states were impacted in the 1980s, some delegates objected to the bills and prevented discussion and voting. The Supreme Court stepped into the void. A rather defeated Congress passed legislation favorable to the tribes in compliance with the court ruling.
If that was not enough, Mitchell describes fake tribes and fake reservations. In 1979 there were 277 recognized tribes. In 2015 there were 340. Over the course of two chapters, Mitchell lays out how tribes re-emerged from extinction to build some of the largest and most profitable casinos in the world. It is truly infuriating how a system designed to help some of the nation's most impoverished people has been perverted into helping others get rich quick who have little, if any, Native American heritage.
The story of fake tribes is far more interesting than the story of Mafia infiltration in the casinos. It may not sell as well as Al Capone; but that story is more fascinating than judges throwing up their hands and saying 'inherent sovereignty, what can I do?' Mitchell's sympathies are clearly with the Native Americans. This view clearly comes out in the latter chapters on fake tribes and reservations. Nonetheless, his story is fascinating and far more convoluted. There were many naysayers. Mitchell skirts the issue of whether the bureaucrats and politicians helping the tribes were acting out of sympathy or less honorable reasons. He does not strongly condemn anyone beyond the operators, so the issue of corruption is quietly ignored.
Overall, I recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in gambling on reservations.
Native Americans have long been treated badly by the federal government. There was hardly any treaty that was not quickly broken and ignored by the United States. By the 1930s the Indian wars were over, and the Indians found themselves grounded in small reservations of dire poverty. A small branch of New Deal bureaucrats reformed the federal approach to Native Americans and created the vague notion of inherent sovereignty. This means that the recognized tribes were here before the United States and therefore, have self-rule. No one paid this guideline much attention until a small dispute over tax-free cigarettes sold on a reservation in Washington state went before the courts. A sympathetic judge determined that the tribes had inherent sovereignty and did not need to pay state tobacco taxes. The American legal system places a great deal of emphasis on precedence, so this seemingly innocuous ruling in state taxes became the basis for a string of other court cases.
Mitchell makes a strong argument that the tribes were not the ones at fault. His main argument is that shady gambling operators took advantage of the tribes (and still do) and the politicians to continually push the legal borders. Mitchell describes numerous instances where the management companies and operators were skimming money from the tribes. But he has little definitive proof because inherent sovereignty means that what happens in those casinos is known only to the tribes. There is little or no government oversight.
Mitchell tries to connect the management companies and operators to organized crime. There are connections. However, readers looking especially at the Mafia connections will likely conclude that these were the exceptions rather than the norm. The Los Angeles Mafia was known derisively as the Micky Mouse Mafia for a reason. They were not secretly controlling Indian gambling. Nor for that matter was the Pittsburgh Mafia which was nearly extinct by the 1990s. The occasional Mafioso connection to a bingo hall or casino was slight and probably quickly replaced by more corporate (and legally acceptable) operators. The greatest evidence of organized crime infiltration in the casinos was from an aggressive Sheriff in Los Angeles who offered little concrete proof other than claiming the Mafia was involved. Readers will learn something new about the mob and some mobsters; but they are rare in the book.
Readers are much more likely to learn about Congress and government bureaucracy. This is where the real story occurs. Mitchell reveals how Congress operates. Overburdened, yet possibly well-meaning, congressmen rely on staffers to take notes at hearings and meetings on certain issues, and then give them a digest of the key ideas. For legislation that is not considered to be controversial, congressional procedures allow no roll-call voting to pass. Into this nexus went a string of legislation intended to control Indian gambling. While only a few states were impacted in the 1980s, some delegates objected to the bills and prevented discussion and voting. The Supreme Court stepped into the void. A rather defeated Congress passed legislation favorable to the tribes in compliance with the court ruling.
If that was not enough, Mitchell describes fake tribes and fake reservations. In 1979 there were 277 recognized tribes. In 2015 there were 340. Over the course of two chapters, Mitchell lays out how tribes re-emerged from extinction to build some of the largest and most profitable casinos in the world. It is truly infuriating how a system designed to help some of the nation's most impoverished people has been perverted into helping others get rich quick who have little, if any, Native American heritage.
The story of fake tribes is far more interesting than the story of Mafia infiltration in the casinos. It may not sell as well as Al Capone; but that story is more fascinating than judges throwing up their hands and saying 'inherent sovereignty, what can I do?' Mitchell's sympathies are clearly with the Native Americans. This view clearly comes out in the latter chapters on fake tribes and reservations. Nonetheless, his story is fascinating and far more convoluted. There were many naysayers. Mitchell skirts the issue of whether the bureaucrats and politicians helping the tribes were acting out of sympathy or less honorable reasons. He does not strongly condemn anyone beyond the operators, so the issue of corruption is quietly ignored.
Overall, I recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in gambling on reservations.
August 27, 2017
This explains in detail something I have wondered about for a while--how did Indian Tribes get into the gambling business. It is not a pretty story, but it is quite well told.
March 9, 2020
Sometimes a well-researched and informative book can be soured by the author's point of view and that is exactly what happens in "Wampum: How Indian Tribes, The Mafia, and An Inattentive Congress Invented Indian Gaming and Created a $28 Billion Gambling Empire" by Donald Craig Mitchell.
Mitchell is obviously against Native American gaming as a concept because it runs counter to what he views as that which can be "earned" through "hard work." His general philosophy will be familar to anyone who has an uncle addled by Fox News. As a socialist, I don't believe that one's hard work exists in bubble, but that capital and particularly hereditary capital, plays a large role in white wealth in America. So to me, Native American gaming feels more like reparations than it does "cheating."
But even if you have no point of view on Native gaming coming into the text, Mitchell's bias is hard to ignore. For example, he harps on how organized crime has tainted native gaming while ignoring the mafia's contact with pretty much all gambling in history. He declines to include many examples from tribes that have benefited as a whole from Native American gaming despite readily available examples available in other texts. And he neglects to criticize conservative lawmakers who it is well-known were not disinterested observers in their opposition to Native American casinos. In short, Mitchell earns his pull quote from the American Enterprise Institute that you will find on the jacket.
If you can put Mitchell's skewed views aside, this is an informative book. Lots of great stories from this history of indigenous communities getting involved with gaming can be found in these pages. And Mitchell has a gift for distilling the complicated process of debating and passing legislation into compelling reading.
But, despite the positives, "Wampum" left me a bit cold. So often, the media focuses on liberal bias. I find that conservative bias is often more pervasive because authors who succumb to it think they are telling the unvarnished truth, leading to more egregious oversights and cringe-inducing proclamations.
I would pass on "Wampum" unless you have to read it research, and even then, I recommend some sipping whiskey to dull the sting of the right-wing bootstraps ideology.
Mitchell is obviously against Native American gaming as a concept because it runs counter to what he views as that which can be "earned" through "hard work." His general philosophy will be familar to anyone who has an uncle addled by Fox News. As a socialist, I don't believe that one's hard work exists in bubble, but that capital and particularly hereditary capital, plays a large role in white wealth in America. So to me, Native American gaming feels more like reparations than it does "cheating."
But even if you have no point of view on Native gaming coming into the text, Mitchell's bias is hard to ignore. For example, he harps on how organized crime has tainted native gaming while ignoring the mafia's contact with pretty much all gambling in history. He declines to include many examples from tribes that have benefited as a whole from Native American gaming despite readily available examples available in other texts. And he neglects to criticize conservative lawmakers who it is well-known were not disinterested observers in their opposition to Native American casinos. In short, Mitchell earns his pull quote from the American Enterprise Institute that you will find on the jacket.
If you can put Mitchell's skewed views aside, this is an informative book. Lots of great stories from this history of indigenous communities getting involved with gaming can be found in these pages. And Mitchell has a gift for distilling the complicated process of debating and passing legislation into compelling reading.
But, despite the positives, "Wampum" left me a bit cold. So often, the media focuses on liberal bias. I find that conservative bias is often more pervasive because authors who succumb to it think they are telling the unvarnished truth, leading to more egregious oversights and cringe-inducing proclamations.
I would pass on "Wampum" unless you have to read it research, and even then, I recommend some sipping whiskey to dull the sting of the right-wing bootstraps ideology.
July 6, 2017
This is an important book that should be read by Americans who are curious about how our government functions, and doesn't, and why and how we have become, especially in California, a country where tribal casinos, many of them extremely successful, continue to greatly impact adjacent communities and local governments with both benefits and untenable problems unforeseen by the government entities, and voters, that have allowed and encouraged them. The book also shows why long-suffering tribes used to mistreatment by the Federal Government have had to exhibit extreme patience, circumvent the law, hire organized crime-connected fundraisers, managers and promoters and then recover from related losses as well as reaping amazing profits, and grab what they could when they could to achieve financial success after suffering for generations in poverty on tribal lands. This is how good intentions, inattention and the ways our government works, and doesn't, have created extreme inequities, both between tribes of now millionaires and those still in extreme poverty, and between increasing tribal gaming & the rights of the adjoining non-reservation community with different land use policies, higher local taxes for infrastructure & services that tribes do not have to pay, and more crime, traffic, unwanted development. The book explains where the term "sovereign nation" originated for the U.S. Government and how it became a legal term with variable applications. A term important to tribes, interesting and important, as well, for our country, with implications for the future. Sources clearly cited for statements throughout. My only complaint: these pages were so information-packed that it was somewhat overwhelming. I was 2/3 of the way through before I entirely understood the way the book was arranged, which made comprehension easier. Otherwise I would have rated it with 5 stars.
February 7, 2017
So last fall I read John Grisham's book The Whistler, which is about some crimes that take place on or involving an Indian casino and its reservation, and it got me wondering, how did gambling on casinos become legal.
Wampum, tells the story of how our inattentive, and lack of understanding congress, in concert with The Bureau of Indian affairs, the department of the interior, and every other group of government halfwits, who managed to make one huge mess, while at the same time helping very few Indians, what a surprise. It is easy to get bogged down in the legal jargon, and you may have to re-read certain passages, but this book is fantastic at explaining how little it takes to be recognized as a tribe, what and how a tribe gets a reservation, and which tribes have benefited, and which haven't.
One huge surprise for me was Harry Reid's involvement, a senator whom I have zero respect, but who repeatedly warned about the seriousness of what was being voted on and was the only member of congress qualified to understand the ramifications, since prior to joining congress, he was in charge of overseeing gambling in Nevada.
Those who remember Nancy Pelosi's famous quip " we have to pass the bill to see what's in it" didn't begin with her, as you will see when you read this book.
Wampum, tells the story of how our inattentive, and lack of understanding congress, in concert with The Bureau of Indian affairs, the department of the interior, and every other group of government halfwits, who managed to make one huge mess, while at the same time helping very few Indians, what a surprise. It is easy to get bogged down in the legal jargon, and you may have to re-read certain passages, but this book is fantastic at explaining how little it takes to be recognized as a tribe, what and how a tribe gets a reservation, and which tribes have benefited, and which haven't.
One huge surprise for me was Harry Reid's involvement, a senator whom I have zero respect, but who repeatedly warned about the seriousness of what was being voted on and was the only member of congress qualified to understand the ramifications, since prior to joining congress, he was in charge of overseeing gambling in Nevada.
Those who remember Nancy Pelosi's famous quip " we have to pass the bill to see what's in it" didn't begin with her, as you will see when you read this book.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews