Month: April 2014

Internet Tribal Gaming Group Tests the Waters

Duane Chapman, Lac du Flambeau, TIGA Interim Chairman
Duane Chapman, Lac du Flambeau, TIGA Interim Chairman

 

A new tribal Internet gaming consortium is steadily taking shape as part of growing movement of such efforts that are sure to capture the attention of federal regulators and, probably, the courts.

The effort, called the Tribal Internet Gaming Alliance (TIGA), is pursuing what organizers say is the most conservative approach of a recent batch of tribal online gaming pioneers that include the Inter Tribal Gaming Association (ITOGA), founded by several already successful California, Michigan and Oklahoma gaming tribes, and Great Luck LLC, championed by the Alturas Indian Rancheria Tribe of northern California.

“We have immediate, short-term, and long-term goals,” says Jeffrey Nelson, a lawyer with the Indian affairs firm Kanji & Katzen who has played a major role in organizing the TIGA endeavor over the past year. “Immediate: A networked virtual currency play platform where tribes will not have to share their player databases, yet can benefit from shared costs and attract online players into their casinos. Short-term: Development of class II real-money games (poker, slot-like bingo and traditional bingo) where TIGA will take bets from the collective gaming eligible Indian lands of our member tribes. Long-term: Better ability to lobby and compete in statewide, national and international online gaming markets.”

Rather than making an immediate large cash profit, TIGA organizers want to establish a coalition of tribes pursuing the likeminded-interest of shaping federal Internet gaming policy. With signals coming frequently from legislators in Congress indicating they want to tinker in this field, TIGA organizers think the right approach is to have a foot in the water, while not rocking the boat.

Small tribes that have not been able to establish major gaming enterprises to date may be especially interested in joining TIGA, Nelson says, for the relatively safe leverage it provides in getting involved in this field without much legal risk at zero cost to join.

As opposed to ITOGA and Great Luck, TIGA does not plan or even want to take wagers from places that are not in its reservation-based network, which currently includes two tribes, the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Tribe and the Bad River Band Chippewa Tribe. Six council representatives from the two tribes have elected Duane Chapman from Lac du Flambeau as the TIGA Interim Chairman—an interim title because the group does not yet have the three tribes necessary in TIGA’s treaty to make its business committee formally operational.

“Geofencing technology is robust enough to allow TIGA to take real-money bets only from the collective gaming eligible Indian lands of its member tribes,” Nelson says, noting that geofencing refers to different types of technology where platform operators can verify the physical location of the customer, whether that person is sitting at a desktop or on a mobile device; some examples are GPS, cell phone signal triangulation and ISP identification.  “With that comes the ability to fence certain areas where you either will not take bets, or conversely where you will only take bets,” he adds. “So TIGA can have a
database of gaming eligible Indian lands of its collective member tribes, and [it can] take bets only from customers who are physically present within those areas.”

TIGA also has some international ideas brewing. Letters of support for the alliance have already come in from the Isle of Man and the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in Canada, which means that tribes in TIGA could have avenues of performing gaming within these nations in the future.

Some tribal Internet gaming entrepreneurs and even tribal leaders have questioned why TIGA is choosing a long-term approach to taking part in an online gaming field that is ripe for development right now.

Nelson responds that TIGA is operating under the current parameters of federal law, while also preparing to help shape and compete in any new legislative initiatives.

“If there are any legal challenges, I would expect to win them,” Nelson says. “We are offering a way for tribes to get involved and get ahead of the competition without jeopardizing anybody’s gaming license or future ability to get a gaming license in other jurisdictions.”

Nelson says that it was important to tribal organizers that tribes in TIGA also be able to participate in other Internet gaming activities, and they may belong to groups like ITOGA and Great Luck as well.

Like TIGA, ITOGA and Great Luck organizers believe they are operating within the parameters of the law, yet they are admittedly taking more chances than TIGA.

Lee Helper, an organizer with Great Luck, explains that the class II games his venture offers are available to “anyone anywhere” and “do not have to be on Indian lands.” Great Luck organizers think they are legally sound in offering this service because their online gaming servers are located on sovereign Indian lands, and the games they offer are all web browser accessed and electronically enabled.

ITOGA, meanwhile, has built itself up based largely on the four tribal safe harbor provisions of the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGA). Like Great Luck, ITOGA depends on Internet servers based on Indian reservations, and for a while it intended to it go farther by accepting wagers as loan transactions through tribal-owned payday lending operations. But as scrutiny of the tribal payday lending field has increased, ITOGA decided to shelve that plan, according to a November article in the Washington Post.

Rob Rosette, a lawyer for ITOGA, has made the case that since the federal government has not explicitly said that tribes cannot operate class II gaming over the Internet—and the UIGA provides a path for doing so—it is worth being aggressive here.

Still, some Congress members appear unhappy with the early Internet gaming efforts of both tribes and commercial entities. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) recently introduced bipartisan legislation that would reestablish the 2006-11 federal interpretation of the 1961 Wire Act. Under that interpretation, licensed online gambling in states including New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware would become illegal. Joe Valandra, CEO of Great Luck, said in a press release that tribal jurisdiction over class II games could be “severely compromised” as well if the bill were passed.

In light of such hurdles, Nelson says TIGA members are happily taking the safe road, yet he notes that it has taken longer than he expected to get three tribes to sign on as founding treaty members.

“Tribes are being careful and doing their due diligence,” Nelson says. “[I]n Indian country, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

 

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/04/02/internet-tribal-gaming-group-tests-waters-154292

Early numbers show devastating toll of mudslide

Sofia Jaramillo / The HeraldAva Yeckley and Darby Morgan, both of Arlington, put up a sign Tuesday reading “We heart Oso” on Highway 530.
Sofia Jaramillo / The Herald
Ava Yeckley and Darby Morgan, both of Arlington, put up a sign Tuesday reading “We heart Oso” on Highway 530.

 

By Jerry Cornfield and Amy Nile, The Herald

OLYMPIA – The deadly March 22 Oso mudslide and subsequent flooding have caused at least $32.1 million in damage to public infrastructure, according to preliminary assessments by state and federal authorities.

Gov. Jay Inslee cited that figure Tuesday in a letter sent to President Barack Obama asking for federal assistance for local and tribal governments to help cover an array of costs incurred in clearing debris and repairing roads and waterways damaged by the disaster.

The slide not only wiped out the Steelhead Drive neighborhood, it has blocked the usual route into Darrington along Highway 530.

“The landslide and upstream flooding it caused brought down death and destruction on these tight-knit communities in Snohomish County,” Inslee said in a statement. “These are our friends and neighbors and we’re racing to help repair their roads and other public facilities in the Stillaguamish Valley. If the president acts on this request, we can help do the job even faster.”

Also late Tuesday, medical examiners said they had received the remains of 28 slide victims and have identified a total of 22. The names released today were: Brandy Ward, 58, Thom Satterlee, 65, Lon Slauson, 60 and Adam Farnes, 23.

The confirmations lowered the total of missing by two; 20 people still are presumed missing as a result of the slide.

On Monday, Inslee requested the president issue a Major Disaster Declaration to free up federal assistance for individuals, households and businesses affected by the disaster. This could include money for temporary housing and immediate needs, and unemployment insurance benefits.

In that letter, he pointed out 40 homes were destroyed and up to 30 families left in need of long- and short-term housing. It pegged the estimated damage to residences and structures at $10 million.

Inslee wants the president to make two public assistance programs available in Snohomish County, and to the Sauk-Suiattle, Stillaguamish and Tulalip Indian Tribes.

The slide buried 6,000 feet of Highway 530. About 700 feet had been cleared by Tuesday.

Travis Phelps, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said it is too soon to know the highway’s condition.

“There is still a lot of Highway 530 under a lot of mud,” he said. “I am sure we are going to find portions that are damaged and portions that are OK. It is too soon to tell if it is completely demolished.”

The expanse of the Oso mudslide miniaturizes people and their machines.

The workers tasked with clearing the 1.2-square-mile debris field are comparing the devastation to 9/11.

“When you get down there, it looks like the World Trade Center,” said Ed Troyer, of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office. “Instead of steel workers, it’s loggers.”

Gerry Bozarth, a debris specialist for Spokane Emergency Management, said the tangle in Oso is as complex as that from the terrorist attacks in New York.

Bozarth said searchers may never find all of the victims. The questions families have may never be answered.

Crews continued to search for the missing Tuesday. Some 600 yellow-and-orange-clad workers donned their hard hats. They were looking through piles of hazardous material sometimes 80 feet deep.

Crews are scratching the surface of the debris field, targeting the places they believe people most likely are buried. There are splintered trees, tires, shredded roof tops, pipes, chunks of walls and people’s photos strewn in the muck.

Water that earlier flooded a portion of the site on the southwest corner is now mostly gone.

“People were thinking air pockets, but there were no air pockets,” Troyer said.

Search conditions have improved since the first few days when crews spent much of their time fighting the water.

“It created a hazardous material soup that was exhausting to crews,” Bellevue Fire Lt. Richard Burke said. “They were sinking to their chests in this muck.”

While pumps droned constantly, moving the water out, crews weren’t hauling dirt away.

The contaminated soil is shoveled, sorted for people’s belongings, then piled up. Right now, it is not being moved off site.

Workers and search dogs must go through a decontamination process before leaving to limit the risk of spreading diseases such as dysentery.

On Tuesday, a sour smell rose from the site. It seemed to be a combination of spilled septic tanks, fuel, household products and exhaust from heavy machinery

The operation is much more organized nearly a dozen days after the slide, officials said. Soldiers and others have stepped in, relieving some of the weary workers.

“We want to go home and look the citizens of Oso and say we did our best,” Burke said.

“The strength in this community and their commitment to one another is just unbelievable.”

Native americans And Business Leaders Pressure White House To Reject Keystone XL

Chief Tayac of the Piscataway tribe, from left, Naiche Tayac, and William of the Lakota Nation march near the White House in Washington during a rally calling on President Barack Obama to reject Keystone XL Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013.CREDIT: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
Chief Tayac of the Piscataway tribe, from left, Naiche Tayac, and William of the Lakota Nation march near the White House in Washington during a rally calling on President Barack Obama to reject Keystone XL Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013.
CREDIT: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

By Katie Valentine, ThinkProgress

As President Obama’s decision on Keystone XL nears, opposition from Native American tribes — many of whom have long spoken out against the pipeline — is getting louder.

Last weekend, members of South Dakota’s Rosebud Sioux tribe set up a prayer camp near Mission, SD in protest of the Keystone XL pipeline. Tribe leaders say their plan is to send a message to the White House that Native Americans won’t back down on this pipeline, which they say would run through land guaranteed by an 1868 treaty for tribal use. The tribe members plan to keep the prayer camp up until President Obama denies the pipeline or until the pipeline is approved, in which case the camp will turn into a “blockade camp.”

 

“We’ve been talking about the XL Pipeline. Reading about it, discussing it, having meetings, and I think reality hit today,” Oglala Sioux President Bryan Brewer said at the camp’s opening ceremony Saturday. “This is the first day that we’re actually going to try to stop it.”

Tribe members have erected nine tipis, including one that will stay occupied 24 hours a day until the White House comes out with a decision on Keystone, and surrounded the camp with hay bales. The tribe is planning to enact three more prayer camps — also called spirit camps — near the proposed route of Keystone XL.

“You can feel the power here,” Brewer said. “This will be non-violent; we will take our coup stick and count coup. This Thursday the [Oglala Sioux] tribal council is going to declare war on the Keystone XL pipeline.”

Native Americans are ramping up their opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline after vowing in February to take a last stand against the pipeline, which they’ve called the “black snake.” Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, vice-chair of the House Native American Caucus, said on MSNBC this week that Native Americans’ opposition to the pipeline — especially recently — brings a spiritual dimension to the pipeline’s opposition, and will force people to pay attention to the issue if they hadn’t been before. The Rosebud tribe is also one of several to be planning a trip to D.C. at the end of April to protest the pipeline.

But Native Americans aren’t the only ones adding their voices to the call against Keystone XL. In a letter made public Tuesday, more than 200 business owners, venture capitalists and professors — inlcuding executives at Apple, Facebook, Google and Oracle — called on Secretary of State John Kerry to reject the pipeline as not in the country’s national interest. The letter called Keystone XL the “critical linchpin” for the development of Canadian tar sands and said it “undermines our international commitments.”

“The Obama Administration has expended great time and resources toward establishing America’s leadership on global challenges including the development of clean, low-carbon energy,” the letter reads. “By approving Keystone XL, the country would instead be locking itself into the development of high cost, high carbon fuels for the foreseeable future.”

Report: South Dakota American Indian casino revenue rose 14 percent in 2012

By CARSON WALKER  Associated Press

SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota — South Dakota’s Native American-owned casinos had among the fastest revenue growth nationwide in 2012, according to a report that also found spending nationally at tribal casinos slowed that year.

Revenue at the 13 Indian gambling facilities operated by nine tribes in the state rose about 14 percent in 2012, to $124 million, said Casino City’s Indian Gaming Industry Report.

The increase is likely due largely to a state law change that took effect July 1, 2012, that gave Deadwood and Indian casinos the option of raising maximum bet limits from $100 to $1,000, said Larry Eliason, executive director of the South Dakota Gaming Commission.

However, not all tribal casinos increased bet limits that much and any small increase can result in a large percentage change, he said.

“Whenever you’re dealing with percentages, we’ve got a pretty low base number, so it doesn’t take a lot to make a high percentage,” Eliason said.

Weston Quinn, chief financial officer and acting CEO of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribe, said the tribe’s casinos in Watertown, Sisseton and Hankinson, North Dakota, had a great year because of the mild winter. All three are in rural areas, so the nice weather allowed elderly clients to get out, he said.

The tribe opted not to increase bet limits because it would have had to add pit bosses and other staff to look closely for cheaters, Quinn said.

“You have to watch people more closely,” he said. “With larger bets, you may bring in clientele you may not necessarily want.”

The tribe has started the process of roughly doubling the size of the gambling floor at its Hankinson casino, Quinn said.

Casino City’s report found that spending by gamblers slowed at U.S. Indian casinos in 2012 and the revenue growth of 8 percent fell behind nontribal casinos for the first time in 18 years.

The 13 Indian gambling operations in South Dakota offered slot machines, electronic bingo machines, blackjack, poker, off-track betting and bingo in 2012. Revenue on the 2,629 slot machines rose about 7 percent from the year before, but revenue from the 64 table games fell by roughly the same amount, the report said.

Besides the bet limit change, the report noted the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe’s plans to renovate its Royal River Casino and Hotel in Flandreau and add more machines. The tribe also has proposed a casino resort in Sioux Falls.

Seth Pearman, attorney for the Santee Sioux, said in an email the tribe has also added other ways to draw people, including a pheasant hunting operation called “Rooster River.”

“Although the Royal River Casino has had substantial competition from out-of-state casinos, it has remained consistent in the past year,” Pearman wrote.

Southern Ute tribe leader dies

By The Associated Press

Southern Ute Tribe-Jimmy-R-Newton-JrIGNACIO, Colo. (AP) – The Southern Ute Indian Tribal Council says Chairman Jimmy R. Newton, Jr., died Monday after a short illness. He was 36.

Newton served as a Tribal Council member and was appointed acting chairman twice before becoming chairman in 2012.

He is survived by his wife, Flora Murphy, and one daughter.

U.S. Sen. Mark Udall said Tuesday Newton was a strong voice for the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, working on projects including the Pine River Indian Irrigation Project.

(Copyright 2014 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Demonstrators to target Chief Wahoo at Cleveland Indians home opener

By Mark Naymilk, Northeast Ohio Media Group

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Native Americans and others who believe the Cleveland Indians’ mascot, Chief Wahoo, is a demeaning caricature plan to demonstrate outside Progressive Field on Friday during the baseball team’s home opener.

Organizers behind the demonstration have tried to rally people against Wahoo on opening day for more than 20 years, though team owners and baseball fans have generally ignored them. In some years, only a handful of demonstrators have stood with signs against Wahoo.

Organizers hope to find greater support this year because of the renewed attention Wahoo has received in the growing national debate over sports mascots and names sparked by the NFL’s Washington Redskins’ controversy.

The Plain Dealer editorial board recently called on the Cleveland Indians’ owners to drop the smiling, big-toothed, big-nosed cartoon Indian, which has been used for more than 60 years.

Ferne Clements, who has helped organize the demonstration for 21 years, says she can’t predict whether or not support for the protest will grow this year.

“But the message hasn’t changed,” said Clements, who works with the Native American advocacy group, The Committee of 500 Years of Dignity and Resistance. “We can’t settle for anything less than a name and logo change. The logo is racist and the name does not honor Native Americans.”

Team owners, who have largely remained silent in the debate, have said the team has no plans to dump Wahoo, which remains popular with fans.

As they do each year, the demonstrators plan to march at 12:30 p.m. from West 25th Street and Detroit Avenue to Progressive Filed, where they will stay until about 3 p.m.

Other Native American organizations are also participating in opening-day demonstrations against Wahoo, according to Facebook postings and email messages.

Ferne, who is not Native American, said she and others are already looking ahead to 2015, which marks the 100th Anniversary of the team name.

Kickapoo chairman: K-12 bill could hurt Native American students

Cuts to bus aid would hit rural areas hard, warns Steve Cadue

By Celia Llopis-Jepsen, cjonline.com

2011 FILE PHOTO/THE CAPITAL-JOURNALIn this 2011 photo, Steve Cadue, center, accepts a proclamation from Gov. Sam Brownback at the Kansas Museum of History. In a letter to Brownback this week, Cadue expressed concern that the Legislature might cut transportation aid to school districts.
2011 FILE PHOTO/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
In this 2011 photo, Steve Cadue, center, accepts a proclamation from Gov. Sam Brownback at the Kansas Museum of History. In a letter to Brownback this week, Cadue expressed concern that the Legislature might cut transportation aid to school districts.

The head of the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas expressed concern in a letter to Gov. Sam Brownback this week that the Legislature could cut transportation aid to school districts to help foot the bill for court-ordered equalization funding.

Tribal Chairman Steve Cadue suggested cuts to state aid for busing students to school would hit rural districts — and therefore Native American students — especially hard.

“As indicated in your own Governor’s Proclamations, the legacy of illegal and unscrupulous land cession treaties has left many tribes such as the Kickapoo located in rural areas on remote plots of land,” Cadue wrote. “Native American children will be disproportionately impacted by funding cuts to school bus services.”

Last week, House Republicans unveiled a K-12 finance bill that addresses a recent Kansas Supreme Court ruling ordering the state to fill a gap in equalization funding to school districts with weaker local tax bases.

In addition to addressing the court order to remedy the estimated $129 million shortfall, the bill proposed cutting an estimated $14.8 million in transportation aid for schools.

Cadue invited the governor to meet one-on-one to discuss the potential effects of such cuts.

“The current state of education for Native Americans is such that it cannot withstand funding cuts and service disruptions without increasing the educational achievement gap,” Cadue said. “I urge you to ensure that our Native American children have the same educational opportunities as the most fortunate children in Kansas.”

The Capital-Journal has contacted the Governor’s Office seeking comment.

A House budget panel has been holding hearings on the K-12 funding bill this week. The bill has drawn criticism from all sides. School districts are concerned lawmakers aren’t making a good faith effort to satisfy the court order, and are instead trimming funding from elsewhere in public education, such as aid for busing and for virtual schools. At the same time, some conservative Republican lawmakers and education-reform advocates would like to include school-choice options in the bill, such as expanding charter schools or allowing corporate tax breaks for private school tuition scholarships.

The governor released a statement earlier this month calling on the Legislature to fully fund the court’s equalization order and acknowledging “the solution to the equity problem will require significant new funding.”

Mary Lou Williams

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Mary Lou Williams, 43 went to be with the Lord March 23, 2014 surrounded by family and close friends. She was born in Everett, Wash. Nov. 01, 1970 to the late Patricia Ellen Williams of Tulalip, and Reggie Williams of Chilliwack, B.C. She leaves behind her father, Reggie and step-father, Dana Cheer; the father of her children, Ken C. Johnson; son, Antonio Johnson; three grandchildren, Azmiraya, Antonio Ki cois, and Antonio King; son, Kurtis Johnson; daughter, Kei’anna Johnson; sons, Quincy Johnson, Bryce Juneau, Takota Williams and Jeremy Kindness; significant other, Cameron Craig; a very special aunty, Mary Jo James; and many more aunts, uncles, cousins and close friends. Mary Lou’s vibrant personality touched many lives. Her sense of humor and laughter drew everyone near. Her scary stories about the basket lady frightened her kids into bed with her. She loved basketball and looked forward to each and every game especially when her oldest boys went to the State Basketball Tournament. Her favorite pastime was playing bingo with her mom and aunties, as long as she sat at the next table. Later on she started working for the Bingo Parlor. Her love for music started when she played piano as a young girl, and she loved to hear her boys rap and her daughter sing! She also loved to dance. Growing up in Tulalip, Mary loved the cultural dancing and singing and beach parties with family. During the holidays, she loved to play poker and board games with family. Mary Lou will be missed by all who shared her life. Pray service Thursday, March 27, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. at Schaefer-Shipman Funeral home with an Interfaith Service to follow at 6:00 p.m. at the Tulalip Tribal Gym. Funeral Service will be held Friday at 10:00 a.m. at the Tulalip Tribal Gym with burial following at Mission Beach Cemetery. Arrangements entrusted to Schaefer-Shipman Funeral Home., Marysville.