"With the Cowlitz Tribe proposing a $400 million casino complex a few miles up I-5 from Portland in La Center, Wash., our region is rushing headlong into controversies surrounding Indian gambling. Another controversy surrounds the Warm Springs Tribe’s intention to site a casino around Cascade Locks.

This makes U.S. Sen. John McCain’s statements on the subject during a visit to Portland last week particularly salient. McCain said he wants to limit the siting of off-reservation casinos. Congress must review and strengthen laws regulating the nearly $20 billion annual tribal casino industry, which is about 40 times larger than it was in 1988 when the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act became law.

This act came in direct response to lack of economic opportunities on Indian reservations. Its provisions greatly expanded the ability of tribes to capitalize on their legal status as quasi-independent sovereign entities within American borders. This is the same legal principle that underlies the legality of Indian smoke shops and fireworks stands."

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Editorial: McCain talks sense about tribal gaming (The Daily Astorian 10/31)