Stop Predatory Gambling

Native American tribes need to move beyond predatory businesses to make money

by Les

Robert Porter, president of the Seneca Nation of Indians based in New York state, told attendees at the Reservation Economic Summit organized by the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development that tribes should go beyond tobacco and gambling to make money. “Our nation has three casinos — we do very well with it. We also sell an awful lot of cigarettes,” said Porter. “It’s just too narrow for the future.”

To help “broaden” their portfolio, some Native American tribes are now partnering with pay day lenders to allow such companies to circumvent state laws in nearly 20 states, according to a recent report by the Center for Public Integrity.

Well-intended people have been talking about alternate economic solutions for Native American tribes for more than twenty years. Yet there is no sense of urgency for these Native American tribes to change their predatory business partnerships and, as evidenced by their entrance into the payday lending arena, the situation is getting worse.

It’s time leaders like Porter announced specific plans to transition their tribal economies away from running the most destructive businesses in the country because if they don’t, the federal government needs to aggressively step in and shut them down.