Indian Gaming Law: Cases and Materials

With more than 400 tribal casinos in 30 states generating more than $23 billion in annual revenue, Indian gaming is a rapidly growing industry that is here to stay. Subject to a complex federal regulatory scheme and myriad state and tribal regulations, Indian gaming also is a growing area of legal practice. A course in Indian gaming law has legal and political currency and thus can easily “connect” with students. But more than simply learning about current events, students should come away from a course on Indian gaming law with a critical understanding of perhaps the most important legal and policy issue facing tribes today, and with a deeper sense of how tribes — the “third sovereign” — interact with state and federal governments in the American political system. Indian Gaming Law: Cases and Materials is a casebook that allows instructors and students to achieve these important pedagogical goals.Indian Gaming Law: Cases and Materials provides a clear, comprehensive, and accessible platform designed specifically for Indian gaming law and similar courses. Written by a law professor and a professor of political science and public administration who are the co-directors of the Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law and Policy and leading scholars in the field of tribal gaming, this casebook uniquely is informed by the reality that Indian gaming law and policy has evolved through political compromise as much as through litigation and law reform. The casebook therefore includes materials relevant to the key legal contexts of tribal gaming as well as the type and relative influence of extralegal variables that shape Indian gaming law.In this casebook, the authors fuse the necessary background on federal Indian law and the status of American Indian tribes in the American political system with legal approaches to regulating gambling, and provide a useful overarching theoretical approach grounded in tribal sovereignty. The casebook covers necessary background on federal Indian law and the legal doctrine of tribal sovereignty, as well as on the roots of Indian gaming in traditional tribal practices and the imperatives of reservation economic development; provides overviews of pre-statutory law and the genesis of the federal statutory framework governing Indian gaming in light of key court decisions; discusses how the federal classification scheme for tribal gaming creates the parameters for tribal-state relations, including compacting for casino-style gaming; and highlights such topics as the authority of the federal agency responsible for regulating Indian gaming and the authority for gaming on newly acquired lands. Materials include excerpts from relevant case law, statutes, and regulations alongside excerpts from books, journal articles, and testimony by key authorities in the field. And because Indian gaming is far from uniform, with significant variation by state and tribe, throughout the book the editors provide specific examples of tribal and state experiences with tribal gaming. To assist students in working through such complex issues, each chapter includes teaching problems and notes.

The second edition of this casebook will be forthcoming in Fall 2019. This is a 2017 paperback printing of the casebound edition originally published in 2008.

With more than 400 tribal casinos in 30 states generating more than $23 billion in annual revenue, Indian gaming is a rapidly growing industry that is here to stay. Subject to a complex federal regulatory scheme and myriad state and tribal regulations, Indian gaming also is a growing area of legal practice. A course in Indian gaming law has legal and political currency and thus can easily "connect" with students. But more than simply learning about current events, students should come away from a course on Indian gaming law with a critical understanding of perhaps the most important legal and policy issue facing tribes today, and with a deeper sense of how tribes — the "third sovereign" — interact with state and federal governments in the American political system. Indian Gaming Law: Cases and Materials is a casebook that allows instructors and students to achieve these important pedagogical goals.

Indian Gaming Law: Cases and Materials provides a clear, comprehensive, and accessible platform designed specifically for Indian gaming law and similar courses. Written by a law professor and a professor of political science and public administration who are the co-directors of the Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law and Policy and leading scholars in the field of tribal gaming, this casebook uniquely is informed by the reality that Indian gaming law and policy has evolved through political compromise as much as through litigation and law reform. The casebook therefore includes materials relevant to the key legal contexts of tribal gaming as well as the type and relative influence of extralegal variables that shape Indian gaming law.

In this casebook, the authors fuse the necessary background on federal Indian law and the status of American Indian tribes in the American political system with legal approaches to regulating gambling, and provide a useful overarching theoretical approach grounded in tribal sovereignty. The casebook covers necessary background on federal Indian law and the legal doctrine of tribal sovereignty, as well as on the roots of Indian gaming in traditional tribal practices and the imperatives of reservation economic development; provides overviews of pre-statutory law and the genesis of the federal statutory framework governing Indian gaming in light of key court decisions; discusses how the federal classification scheme for tribal gaming creates the parameters for tribal-state relations, including compacting for casino-style gaming; and highlights such topics as the authority of the federal agency responsible for regulating Indian gaming and the authority for gaming on newly acquired lands. Materials include excerpts from relevant case law, statutes, and regulations alongside excerpts from books, journal articles, and testimony by key authorities in the field. And because Indian gaming is far from uniform, with significant variation by state and tribe, throughout the book the editors provide specific examples of tribal and state experiences with tribal gaming. To assist students in working through such complex issues, each chapter includes teaching problems and notes.

The authors also provide an accompanying Instructor's Manual that contains additional specific suggestions for discussion topics and questions, group and individual exercises, web links to capture dynamic developments in Indian gaming, and supplementary background resources for instructors. Ideal for both new and experienced teachers, Indian Gaming Law: Cases and Materials can be paired effectively with the authors' legal resource book Indian Gaming Law and Policy.