What is Next
Over the next several months, two topics will be the subject of Tribal conversations verbal and virtual more than anything else: the 2012 budget, and Constitutional election on our Tribe's membership requirements. These two subjects are important, and should be the heart of vigorous debate, hopefully civil. I am here trying to introduce a third issue, one that will have a huge bearing on the future of not just Grand Ronde but Native nations everywhere in North America.
On Monday October 17th, I flew over to the East Coast along with Tribal Attorney Rob Greene and fellow Council member and Secretary Jack Giffen, Jr. to attend the National Indian Gaming Association Mid-year Meeting held at Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino in Connecticut. This particular conference piqued my interest for a number of reasons, the least of which is that the Mohegan gaming operation is one of those things you have to see to appreciate, dwarfing our own Spirit Mountain Casino. I could very easily write a blog post about his particular aspect of the trip, from the wow factor of the facilities to the food at Michael Jordan's Steakhouse. But those pleasant diversions are easily forgotten in the wake of what would be the focal point of much of the conference, iGaming, or more generically, internet gaming.
For almost all of my nearly eight years on Council we have fretted over the intrusion of non-Indian interests into Tribal gaming. Those worries manifested themselves into reality during 2010 when Oregon voters were confronted with Measure 75, which would have allowed for a non-Tribal casino in Wood Village, a small suburb in Portland. That was especially important for Grand Ronde because gamers from the Rose City comprise a rather large portion of our client base. Also I probably don't need to go into detail about our stance on off-reservation gaming and what that has meant.
Internet gaming poses special challenges. Whereas with off-reservation and private gaming we knew who was involved, and where they were eyeballing, iGaming is complicated because we are talking about the world wide web and computers, two things that nearly everybody is both familiar with and has access to. The Cabazon v. California case and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act opened up possibilities for tribes. The legalization of online gaming could open up possibilities for much more than just natives, which I'll explain later. The fact that it is being considered as a possible part of any national deficit reduction package shows that the powers that be aren't just batting around an idea, but are giving serious consideration.
One presenter at NIGA guessed some form of online gaming would be legal by 2013. The guess was online poker. Elsewhere in the world iGaming has already gained a foothold. Canada has been the point of first contact in North America, as the provinces of both British Columbia and Quebec have legalized forms of internet gaming. Just in the last six months more than $6 million has been spent in lobbying efforts for internet gaming within the United States.
Why should Grand Ronde especially be concerned with internet gaming? Well, think about it. Unless somebody printed out this blog post out for you, then odds are your eyes are fixated on a computer screen, meaning that if internet gaming existed right now a simple mouse click or two would put you in a position to make wagers. Depending on what kind of gamer you are, that one-hour drive to Spirit Mountain Casino will seem like an unnecessary chore compared to camping out in front of the old Apple. And we worry about competition that is closer to Portland...
While a lot of people will probably still long for the casino experience, especially those who love our buffet, the reality is that the convenience of iGaming would be hard to deny. As one presenter pointed out, the next generation of gamers are already gamers, just without wagers. Video games, like the xBox 360 or online multiplayer games, are already staples of teenage and young adult lifestyles. You don't even have to be young: Facebook users will be familiar with Farmville and Bejeweled Blitz. Those games are already widely played, now imagine one day being able to play similar games with a wager component. The client base for iGaming has been developing for years.
I learned at the conference that already five companies offer what NIGA speakers routinely referred to as PFF iGaming. The PFF stands for "Play For Fun", but the games are designed to be a test run for the real deal in the future. Hundreds more are expected to hit the net soon. In Oregon, we will soon have The ORcade, a chance to possibly win with losing "Scratch it" tickets.
The reality set in for me as I sat in on a workshop offered by staff from San Diego State University. I had by then developed a better idea of what might lie ahead, but got genuinely nervous when we discussed who might eventually get involved. Entities who already have a foothold in the web, regardless of their exact function, could be possible players especially media companies like NBC, but also those that have major online communities. So in other words, companies like Yahoo!, Google, and yes, Facebook could in some form get in on the action.
When you start throwing around names like those, all of a sudden the prospect of internet gaming, and what it means to Indian Country, becomes a matter that makes many of our internal problems seem trivial. And I thought this while sitting in a conference room at Mohegan Sun, a monolith in the landscape of Indian gaming.