INDIAN GRANTS, GAMING REVENUE BOTH ON THE RISE

Despite significant growth in Indian gaming revenues, federal funding to tribes has increased rather than decreased, suggesting that gaming revenue and federal assistance are not inversely related. The author used federal data to show that between 2002 and 2004, tribal gaming revenues grew 30 percent while federal grants grew 44 percent.

Indian gaming has grown explosively during recent years. While giving few specific examples, tribes in Oklahoma claim they are putting that money to good use for programs to benefit their members. Before gaming, tribes relied almost solely on the federal government to pay for housing, medical care, education and other needs.

This led me to wonder about the relationship between tribes' gaming revenues and the funds they receive from the federal government. As tribes make more from gaming and become more self-sufficient, is there any reduction in federal funds for housing, medical care, government and the like? The answer is no, at least during the three years of data I examined.

While revenues from Indian gaming grew 30 percent nationally during fiscal years 2002 through 2004, federal grants to tribes grew 44 percent. By 2004, federal assistance to tribal organizations totaled about $7 billion; Indian gaming revenues topped $19 billion nationally. The pattern was the same in Oklahoma.

I found the answer using a database called the Federal Assistance Award Data System, or FAADS, maintained by the U.S. Census Bureau and available from the IRE and NICAR Database Library, www.ire.org/datalibrary/databases/viewdatabase.php?dbaseindex=38. Covering federal financial assistance for about 600 federal programs, FAADS includes