Most states now find themselves dependent on gambling revenues to help close budget gaps, not understanding that society at large pays three dollars in hidden costs of legalized gambling for every dollar government collects from a casino or state lottery or state-sponsored slot parlor. We owe to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun and the financial backers of these two casino complexes the slot-mechanization of American state government. Indian casinos, in contrast, can't be required to, though most do after negotiations.įoxwoods being an 'Indian' casino, this non-fiction book about its startup and growth is more about Indian gambling (getting tribal recognition, acquiring land) than commercial or state-sponsored casino gambling. The latter two enjoy government sponsorship or sanction because they are required to send some of their hold to state coffers. Indian gambling is not the only form of predatory gambling in the US: together, lottery and commercial casinos loom larger.

It begins in Maine, where Indian 'gaming' was launched by someone who at first seems to have been more concerned with helping an Indian tribe mired in poverty than turning Indian gambling into a machine to make a lot of money for a few Indians and their financial backers.

Reading this book back about 2006 gave me insight into predatory gambling and corruption.

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