www.pillsburylaw.comPillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Blaine I. Green
Indian Law (American)
+1.415.983.1476
blaine.green@pillsburylaw.com
Blaine I. Green is a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop
Shaw Pittman LLP where he leads the firm’s Indian
Law practice. Mr. Green serves as outside general
counsel for several California-based tribes. In this
role, he works on a wide variety of tribal-state
disputes including, by way of example, disagree-
ments over gaming compacts and state attempts to
regulate tribal gaming; objections by states and
localities to taking of land into federal trust for
tribes; disputes relating to the application of sales
and use tax; and disputes over application of state
law on the reservation. Mr. Green has represented
tribal clients in tribal, state and federal courts,
including published opinions from the Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals and the Interior Board of Indian
Appeals. He also advises companies doing
business with Native American tribes and in Indian
country.
Mr. Green received his J.D. from Harvard Law
School in 1997 (cum laude), and his B.A. from
Harvard University in 1994 (magna cum laude). He
is admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court,
the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the State of
California and various U.S. District Courts.
I gratefully acknowledge my colleagues in our
Indian Law practice, Daron Carreiro and Jessica
Bogo, who provided valuable assistance on this
chapter.
Internet Gaming and
Indian Country:
The Trends and the Strategies
Excerpts of chapter that first appeared in Inside the Minds: Emerging Issues in Tribal-State Relations (2012
Edition) published by Aspatore Books. Excerpts reprinted with permission.
by Blaine I. Green
Introduction
For most of the twentieth century,
gambling in the United States was
confined to the State of Nevada.
Much has changed in the last twenty-
five years since adoption of federal
law expressly authorizing Indian
gaming. Today, hundreds of casinos
are operated by tribes, on Indian
lands throughout the country. Indian
gaming accounts for nearly half of the
industry.
Now, a change in position by the
federal government—combined with
the rapid growth and popularization
of the Internet—has the potential to
open a new frontier: Online gaming.
The prospect of Internet gaming
raises complex jurisdictional,
regulatory, and other issues for
Indian tribes and states. Does the
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act
support Internet gaming? Do existing
laws and tribal-state compacts permit
such gaming by tribes? What are
possible subjects for legislation or
tribal-state negotiation with respect
to Internet gaming?
This chapter addresses each of these
questions, and discusses the trends
and strategies in this emerging area.
Background on Tribal Gaming
Modern American Indian tribal
gaming is conducted pursuant to the
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act
(“IGRA”),1 the stated purpose of
which is “to provide a statutory basis
for the operation of gaming by Indian
tribes as a means of promoting tribal
economic development, self-su-
ciency, and strong tribal govern-
ments.”2 While traditional games and
gambling have been a part of
American Indian culture for centu-
ries,3 tribal governments began using
modern forms of gaming in recent
decades as a way to raise revenues for
the operation of their tribal govern-
ments, and to provide much-needed
tribal services to their citizens,
including health care, education,
housing, and infrastructure.
Prior to IGRA, federal law did not
contain clear standards or regulations
for gaming conducted by Indian
nations on tribal lands. In 1987, in
California v. Cabazon Band of Mission
Indians,4 the United States Supreme
Court armed the right of American
Indian tribes to oer bingo, card
games, and other forms of gaming on
their reservations, free from state
regulation, provided that gaming was
permitted in some form by the state
within which they were located.5 In
Cabazon, gaming revenues were the
sole income for the two tribes
involved in the case (the Cabazon and
Morongo Bands of Mission Indians),
and gaming was also a major source
