Speaking of gaming, we always like - and it is important that we do so - to indicate the impact that our sector, if regulated, has on the economies of countries, both nationally and locally. The union between gaming and tourism, as highlighted in the magazine Gioco News, is perhaps the most obvious and visible expression of this impact, with the creation of jobs, a tourist offer that attracts visits and with tax contributions and tax revenue. It is the model of land-based gaming, when well developed and widespread.
But there is a part of the sector that has taken it to an even more advanced level, making it grow, until generating 48.4 billion per year. I'm talking about the Native American gaming in the United States, generating almost half of the country's Ggr (gross gaming revenues), but is so little known outside the North American continent (and even inside).
Making the gaming the basis of the economy of entire nations, lifting them out of poverty - in many cases even extreme one - and which continues to finance the services for entire communities of Indian tribes, the indigenous one is an excellent example of the positive force of gaming and the long-term approach that takes into account not only immediate income, but also the impacts of current decisions on the future. In fact, those who are familiar with indigenous gaming and have cooperated with indigenous communities are familiar with the concept of the seven generation gaming. That is, having to think about seven generations to come, rather than just the present: an approach developed as a result of years of abuse and negligence by the American state.
There are 547 indigenous communities recognized by the US federal state as sovereign nations, 250 of which operate some form of gambling, with 515 establishments that together generate 44 percent of Us Ggr: an admirable figure for a sector that exists only since 1988, which is the year of the implementation of the Igra (Indian Gaming Regulatory Act), which established the rules for the "Amerindian" gaming.
As sovereign nations, indigenous communities have the right to self-determination, which means that they assume responsibility for the well-being of their members, including services for health, protection, infrastructure, dwelling and cultural preservation. This column is not a place to extensively write on the history of abuse, resettlement, paternalistic politics and even genocide that are part of it, but it is important to understand that it is precisely this history that shapes the present and the future of indigenous gaming.
Before 1988, when the Amerindian gaming was licensed, indigenous tribes, living as usual in the remote areas allocated to them by the Us state after expelling them from their original easternmost areas of the country, could finance with strain their reserves and generate income from them. Indeed, many indigenous communities existed to the extreme of poverty and society, marginalized both physically, in remote areas, and civically, as an ethnic minority. For many, if not the majority, gambling has changed their lives by providing a stable and sustainable source of income, which in fact has begun to fund basic services for the entire community. For example, the nation of Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians used gambling income to build a hospital, a high school, and a library.
According to data from the National Indian Gaming Commission, which is the regulator at the federal level (which, however, does not regulate the activities of sovereign nations operating in gaming, but rather the integrity of the movement of funds and cooperation agreements), poverty on indigenous reserves operating gaming is 25 percent compared to 35 percent on those without gaming, while unemployment rates are 10 percent versus 14 percent.
No wonder then that indigenous nations want to protect gaming, an important source of their survival and self-determination. And therefore every change, even in the name of technological progress, must be well analysed, therefore from the point of view of an immediate future, but also of the most remote one of seven generations. While private or publicly traded organizations have a relatively small group of owners and shareholders to answer to, Ameridino's gaming involves all communities and future generations. It is about much more than just tourism.