The newly legalized sports betting industry has brought the online or mobile gaming industry with it. In the nearly five years since Murphy, at least 35 states and the District of Columbia have legalized sports betting, with at least 20 offering some form of online sports wagering. The Indian gaming industry is likewise evolving to address this changing landscape. In recent years, dozens of Tribal Governments have added sports wagering to Indian gaming operations. The issue of whether Tribes can operate online sports betting is a topic of ongoing debate. Some existing online gaming operators look to freeze Indian gaming in time to the date of IGRA’s enactment in their attempt to prevent Tribal governments from participating in this emerging market. These arguments yet again ignore that Congress intended IGRA to foster the evolution of Indian gaming, providing Tribes the maximum flexibly to take advantage of modern technology. They also ignore the longstanding fact that Indian gaming has never been strictly limited to Indian lands. For example, off-track betting has always been an integral part of Indian gaming. While the races may take place off Indian lands, the wagers are accepted at the Indian gaming operation. It is not a stretch to likewise recognize that Tribes can work with states through the compacting process to clarify that Tribal gaming operations can accept mobile wagers from outside of Indian lands where the server is located on Indian lands. This view reflects this modern understanding of how to regulate online gaming. Multiple states have enacted laws that deem a bet to have occurred at the location of the servers, regardless of where the player is physically located in the state. Tribal governments are leading this debate, empowered in part by IGRA and the compacts that Tribes have carefully negotiated. So as the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act reaches another milestone, we acknowledge the Act’s limitations but also embrace the benefits embedded in IGRA. This forward-looking law, at its core, is grounded in respect for Tribal sovereignty that provides the flexibility to empower Tribal government gaming operations with the ability to grow with modern advances in the industry.
7 INDIAN GAMING - ANNUAL REPORT 2023
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