BY KEVIN ABOUREZK, Lincoln Journal Star
Kevin Abourezk, 473-7237 or kabourezk@journalstar.com
SLOAN, Iowa — Betty Bove's hopes ran high as the blackjack dealer handed her a queen. Two more cards, a 4 and a 6, gave her 20.
Nati Harnik/AP Photo: Greg Werners of Fremont, Neb., plays the Cash Cow electronic bingo machine at the Iron Horse Bar & Casino in Emerson, Neb., in this July 28, 2004, file photo.
Even with a queen of his own showing, the dealer surely couldn't beat that.
His next card was a three. Bove's hopes remained. Then, the hammer fell.
"Whoa," he said, revealing an 8, for a total of 21.
A single bad hand of blackjack isn't likely to keep the 60-year-old Madison woman from returning to this table. She said she feels valued, like an old friend, here at the WinnaVegas Casino in Sloan.
And, even though there are casinos closer to Madison, she prefers to travel out of her way to get to WinnaVegas, a casino owned by the Winnebago Tribe.
"I just like it here," she said. "I'm familiar with a lot of the people, a lot of the employees."
As Nebraska voters contemplate two November ballot initiatives that would legalize casino gambling, Nebraska's tribes are looking at ways to take advantage of expanded gaming. One tribe, the Winnebago, even hopes to build one of the two casinos either ballot initiative would approve.
The issue of tribal gaming has raised concern among politicians and gambling foes that tribes could end up being the wild card state voters never saw coming.
Their concerns are echoed in places such as Iowa, where the idea of tribal gaming has become a reality.
The first proposal on the November ballot would allow up to two casinos to be built in Omaha and about 4,900 video poker and slot machines in bars, keno parlors and racetracks across the state. It is a package of four expanded gambling petitions that could be approved as a whole or in part.
The second proposal, forwarded by the state Legislature, would legalize two casinos anywhere in the state.
Either proposal, if approved, would open the door to casino gambling for Nebraska's tribes, according to gambling opponents and tribal leaders.
Across the Missouri River in Iowa, gambling foes and tribes have battled over the issue of tribal gaming since it was approved more than a decade ago.
Tom Coates, a gambling critic and director of Consumer Credit of Des Moines, the state's largest credit counseling agency, criticized the rise of tribal gaming in his state, saying tribal casinos lack adequate oversight, place undue burden on nearby communities and give nothing back to the state.
"The Indian casino is, in some ways, the worst of both worlds," he said. "You have all the problems and none of the money comes back."
He cited the case of the Meskwaki Tribe, which now owns the second largest gambling operation in Iowa. He described the Meskwaki Casino as rowdy and unmanageable, flippant in its disregard for gaming regulations. He said the tribe has not even tried to prevent underage gamblers from entering its casino.
"I think if people understood that the tribal casinos are the red man's revenge on the white man I think there would be less apathy," Coates said.
Betsy McCloskey, executive director of marketing for the Meskwaki Casino, disputed Coates' comments, saying the tribe is heavily regulated by the federal National Indian Gaming Commission.
"We're held very accountable by that organization," she said.
While the tribe is not required to pay for the burden its customers place on nearby communities, the tribe does pay about $1 million a year in payroll taxes to the state.
As for underage gamblers, the tribe has worked hard to prevent people under 21 from entering its casino and posts two security officers at each entrance, she said.
"We're highly committed to not having underage gamers here," she said.
Back in Nebraska, the debate over tribal gaming has been nearly as hot as in Iowa. That debate flares up particularly when the issue arises of what ability tribes have to open casinos off their reservations.
The Winnebago Tribe has not hidden its interest in pursuing an off-reservation casino in Omaha should voters approve casino gambling in November.
It is a risk for the tribe, which could lose profits from its Sloan casino to gambling in Omaha. Tribal leaders prefer to think of it as a calculated risk.
"Our interests have always been the same as Nebraska's — keep the money in Nebraska," said Winnebago Tribal Chairman John Blackhawk.
Unlike Las Vegas gambling interests, the Winnebago would use any profits it made to benefit its tribal members, who are also Nebraska residents, he said.
Lance Morgan, chief executive of Ho-Chunk Inc., the Winnebago Tribe's business arm, said the tribe already has begun talks with successful tribal gaming managers in other parts of the country to discuss their possible support of the tribe's bid to open a Nebraska casino.
"I think we would not be doing this alone," he said.
The likely route the tribe would take in trying to open a casino in Nebraska would be through its private corporation, Ho-Chunk Inc., he said. By bidding for the right to open a casino as a corporation, the tribe would be acting as any other corporation and would not be required to jump through the legal hoops required when opening a casino as a tribe, he said.
"Just because we're a tribe doesn't mean we can't venture off the reservation to do business," he said.
The possibility of off-reservation casinos, however, has worried some Nebraska officials.
Terri Teuber, spokeswoman for Gov. Mike Johanns, said the governor is concerned about what tribes could do should voters approve casino gambling.
Voters, she said, are not voting merely for two casinos but also for an unknown number of tribal casinos by approving the November ballot proposals. Said Teuber: "The governor remains deeply concerned."
State Sen. DiAnna Schimek of Lincoln, who supports the legislative gambling proposal, said tribes face many obstacles in opening off-reservation casinos.
The process, she said, is costly and complex, and the governor has the right to reject any tribal proposal under federal law. In fact, only three tribes have been approved to operate casinos off their reservations since the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was enacted in 1988, she said.
Regardless of whether Nebraska's tribes are given the opportunity to open casinos, it is not likely they will be given the chance to open casinos in Omaha, said Judi Morgan gaiashkibos, executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs.
That's because outside gambling interests, including two Las Vegas gaming corporations, have outstripped tribes in lobbying for casino gambling in the state, she said. That massive marketing campaign likely will give them the upper hand when it comes time to hand out casino contracts, she said.
It is unfortunate considering it was tribes that first brought up the issue of casino gambling in Nebraska, she said.
"Non-Indians once again are going to profit off the backs of Indian people," she said. "We did all the hard work."
Back at the WinnaVegas Casino, where the philosophical debate over tribal gaming takes form, Betty Bove's hopes remained high that her luck would turn as she left to play another hand, despite being down $25.
"I haven't been here that long," she said.
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