The Native American gaming industry has a largely beneficial impact both for tribes and for the areas surrounding the casinos and gaming industry. In fact, in recent years the industry has totaled up to 18.5 billion dollars in revenue, and an additional 2.5 billion dollars in revenue from surrounding industries like hotels, shops, and restaurants.

A Positive Impact

Native Americans and the gaming industry have specific requirements imposed upon them by the Indian Gaming Regulations Act, or IGRA. The act requires certain stipulations in terms of what tribal governments can do with the revenue acquired from the gaming industry’s profits.

According to the IGRA, the revenues are not to be used for any other purposes except than to fund tribal government operations, promote the general welfare of tribal members and tribal economic development, and to donate funds to charitable organizations, as well as to fund local governmental agencies. The gaming industry is the most successful Indian economic enterprise available to Native Americans. Their success also supports others. Over 2.7 billion dollars of the gaming proceeds went to paying federal taxes, while 2.8 billion goes to social security, and 1.8 million goes to state income taxes.

The Indian gaming industry also helps to benefit the surrounding community and other tribal members, even those not directly involved in the gaming industry itself. The industry has created over 220,000 new jobs and has helped to boost the total employment for the gaming industry to be approximately 553,000 new jobs for people who need them.

This provides an incredible boost to the economy of both the tribe and also the surrounding communities and tribal members can become more financially stable and spend their savings in the community. This helps to stimulate the chain of supply and demand and thus encourage both the tribal and community economies. The gaming industry has thus had a largely beneficial impact for both Native and non-Native Americans alike. As the industry increases in size, more jobs become available and more people can enjoy the amenities offered by the Indian gaming industry, thereby stimulating the economy even more.