Indian Gambling Recommendations
6.4 The Commission recommends that tribal governments, states and, where appropriate, labor organizations, should work voluntarily together to extend to employees of tribal casinos the same or equivalent (or superior) protections that are applicable to comparable state or private-sector employees through federal and state employment laws. If state employee protections are adopted as the standard for a particular tribal casino, then they should be those of the state in which that tribal casino is located. Further, the Commission recommends that Congress should enact legislation providing such protections only if there is not substantial voluntary progress toward this goal over a reasonable period of time.
6.5 The Commission recognizes that under IGRA, Indian tribes must annually report certain proprietary and non-proprietary tribal governmental gambling financial information to the NIGC, through certified, independently audited financial statements. The Commission recommends that certain aggregated financial, Indian gambling data from reporting tribal governments, comparable by class to the aggregated financial data mandatorily collected from commercial casinos and published by such states as Nevada and New Jersey, should be published by the National Indian Gaming Commission annually. Further, the Commission recommends that the independent auditors should also review and comment on each tribal gambling operation’s compliance with the Minimum Internal Control Standards (MICS) promulgated by the NIGC.
6.6 The Commission recommends that, upon written request, a reporting Indian tribe should make immediately available to any enrolled tribal member the annual, certified, independently audited financial statements and compliance review of the MICS submitted to the NIGC. A tribal member should be able to inspect such financial statements and compliance reviews at the tribal headquarters or request that they be mailed.
6.7 The Commission recommends that tribal and state sovereignty should be recognized, protected, and preserved.
6.8 The Commission recommends that all relevant governmental gambling regulatory agencies should take the rapid growth of commercial gambling, state lotteries, charitable gambling, and Indian gambling into account as they formulate policies, laws, and regulations pertaining to legalized gambling in their jurisdictions. Further, the Commission recommends that that all relevant governmental gambling regulatory agencies should recognize the long overdue economic development Indian gambling can generate.
6.9 The Commission has heard substantial testimony from tribal and state officials that uncompacted tribal gambling has resulted in substantial litigation. Federal enforcement has, until lately, been mixed. The Commission recommends that the federal government fully and consistently enforce all provisions of the IGRA.
6.10 The Commission recommends that tribes, states, and local governments should continue to work together to resolve issues of mutual concern rather than relying on federal law to solve problems for them.
6.11 The Commission recommends that gambling tribes, states, and local governments should recognize the mutual benefits that may flow to communities from Indian gambling. Further, the Commission recommends that tribes should enter into reciprocal agreements with state and local governments to mitigate the negative effects of the activities that may occur in other communities and to balance the rights of tribal, state and local governments, tribal members, and other citizens.
6.12 IGRA allows tribes and states to negotiate any issues related to gambling. Nothing precludes voluntary agreements to deal with issues unrelated to gambling either within or without compacts. Many tribes and states have agreements for any number of issues (e. g., taxes, zoning, environmental issues, natural resources management, hunting and fishing, etc.). The Commission recommends that the federal government should leave these issues to the states and tribes for resolution.
6.13 The Commission recommends that Congress should specify a constitutionally sound means of resolving disputes between states and tribes regarding Class III gambling. Further, the Commission recommends that all parties to Class III negotiations should be subject to an independent, impartial decisionmaker who is empowered to approve compacts in the event a state refuses to enter into a Class III compact, but only if the decisionmaker does not permit any Class III games that are not available to other persons, entities, or organizations of the state and only if an effective regulatory structure is created.
6.14 The Commission recommends that Congress should adopt no law altering the right of tribes to use existing telephone technology to link bingo games between Indian reservations when such forms of technology are used in conjunction with the playing of Class II bingo games as defined under IGRA.
6.15 The Commission recommends that tribal governments should be encouraged to use some of the net revenues derived from Indian gambling as “seed money” to further diversify tribal economies and to reduce their dependence on gambling.