LAS VEGAS, Nev. ? The former chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association was inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame at the World Gaming Conference and Expo here.
Hill joins a list of high-powered names in the gaming industry in the Gaming Hall of Fame. His leadership of NIGA from 1993 to spring of 2001 saw membership in the organization increase 100 percent to 168 tribes. There are 198 tribes that participate in Indian gaming.
‘I had the staff ? everyone worked on a collective basis. I was lucky enough to be involved and help bring the tribes together.
‘We did a lot in a short time, but there is much to do,’ Hill said.
He said one accomplishment was the way the association grew to be recognized by different levels of government, to acquire the ability to hold off legislation negative toward Indian gaming and to promote and advocate for legislation that was a positive influence in moving gaming forward.
‘Gaming is the only positive economic development that worked and it included all the nations.’
When Hill spoke of the need to do more, he included the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Washington, Rhode Island, Alabama and Florida where tribal gaming has either not been allowed or where tribes have had a difficult time with compacts. He said those states should be made to follow federal law or continue to upgrade gaming commissions.
The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act includes a provision that allows the secretary of the Interior to intercede when a state acts in bad faith and does not negotiate a gaming compact with a tribe. The secretary can present a compact to the state and the tribe for approval. The state of Florida filed a lawsuit against Interior and the secretary that stopped that process. Alabama joined the lawsuit.
There is still opposition to Indian gaming. Hill said that partnerships with local leaders and communities worked in California, but it is a lot of work. In California gaming went from a 50 percent approval rate to 70 percent ‘because they put a viable program together and told their story.
‘There will always be a certain amount of economic racism.’
Hill joins notables Terri Lanni, Steve Wynn, Donald Trump and Sam Boyd in the Gaming Hall of Fame.
The growth of tribal gaming occupied a prominent position at the World Gaming Conference and Expo, with the help of keynote speaker and NIGA Chairman Ernie Stevens Jr., Oneida member.
Tribal gaming with a $9.6 billion industry still makes up only 10 percent of the total gaming dollar in this country and tribal gaming has grown to that level since its inception in 1988.
Stevens told the gathering that NIGA will continue to fight for tribes which have difficult relationships with states that refuse to negotiate gaming compacts. He mentioned Oklahoma where the Absentee Shawnee and the Seminole tribes have lawsuits pending against the state to force a compact to allow slot machines. Slot machines are illegal in Oklahoma.
‘We’re going to fight for their tribes. We will continue to assert the need for a compact in Oklahoma and the need for the government to comply with IGRA,’ Stevens said.
Hill now heads a consulting group called the Hill Group. The group conducts hands-on training in the industry for gaming commissions and regulators help with infrastructure, standards and education.
‘We put things in place to promote and enhance sovereignty, to put the tribes on a solid ground. There has to be more training in those areas.’