Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the Seminole Tribe of Florida?

If you've been reading the papers lately, you probably answered, "casinos." To hear some folks talk, you'd think that the Seminole Tribe is on the verge of constructing a full-scale casino on every Florida intersection, with the blessing of the U.S. Department of the Interior and without any input from the state of Florida or its non-Indian citizens. I would like to take this opportunity to set the record straight.

What we want with regard to gaming, and what we have tried unsuccessfully to get from the state of Florida for the better part of a decade, is for the state to meet its legal obligation to negotiate a gaming agreement, or compact, with us. The U.S. Congress passed a law in 1988 that gave states a say in what types of gaming could take place on Indian reservations. In return, Congress required states to negotiate in good faith with tribes to determine what types of games could be offered on the reservations, consistent with the state's public policy.

After several failed attempts to bring state representatives to the negotiating table, we filed suit against the state of Florida in 1991 asking the court to determine whether the state was, indeed, fulfilling its obligation to negotiate in good faith. Rather than allowing the court to resolve the issue, however, the state asserted its sovereign immunity against being sued, a procedural move that the courts agreed was within the state's powers.

This left the Seminole tribal government with the legal right to negotiate for certain forms of gambling but no way to enforce that right. The court, however, recognizing that a state's assertion of sovereign immunity left tribal governments with no way to enforce their legal rights, decided that a tribe can turn to the Secretary of the Interior to determine what games the tribe may conduct, consistent with the state's policy.

On April 12, the secretary published regulations implementing the court's decision. That same day, the state of Florida filed suit against the secretary to prevent their implementation.

The state also claims that the video pull tabs in our existing bingo halls are really slot machines and therefore illegal to operate without a compact. The state has asked the federal government to shut down our existing gaming facilities -- an act that would have a devastating effect on the tribe and on our non-Indian employees, vendors and surrounding communities.

Seminole gaming is not a commercial venture designed to make a few individuals rich. Rather, it is a government sponsored activity whose proceeds are used exclusively for the benefit of the Seminole Tribe, not unlike the Florida Lottery.

Gaming revenues have meant the difference between dependency and self-sufficiency for the Seminole Tribe and our people. Gaming income funds the administration of our tribal government, tribal parks and recreational facilities and services, tribal member services, education programs and economic development on our reservations that otherwise would not exist.

Thanks to gaming, Seminole tribal members have clean running water and electricity in their homes, safe streets in their neighborhoods and museums on their reservations to preserve for future generations the Seminole culture and history.

This income has allowed us to develop a "safety net" in the form of a monthly stipend to assure that no Seminole need draw on state or federal welfare funds in times of need.

Through gaming, we provide jobs and employee benefits to more than 2,000 non-Indian Floridians and we purchase more than $24 million in goods and services from more than 850 Florida vendors each year.

We are not asking to open full-scale casinos in downtown Tampa. We are not proposing to turn Florida into a Nevada-like Mecca for commercial gambling. All we are asking is that the state comply with the law and negotiate with us a gaming compact that will allow us to fund our government, just as the state of Florida uses the lottery to fund its governmental programs.

We are eager to end this decade long stalemate over gaming and get on with our lives. We look forward to a time in the very near future when the people of Florida see us for what we are: good neighbors with a rich cultural life and strong commitment to the land we have called home for more than 200 years, who, like the state of Florida, happen to use gaming revenues to fund essential government programs.