Tag Archive: Indian Gaming Regulatory Act

Thanks to Native Americans being perceived as taking advantage of the ability to gamble on tribal lands, the US government introduced a new classification process. Class I is for Native Americans and deals with traditional games on their own lands. Class II is for bingo machines, including scratch cards and some lotteries. Finally, the Class III games are the slots you can find in any Las Vegas casino. Unlike the Class II games, the Class III games make use of a random number generator.

After a number of high profile court cases, Native Americans were able to make their own laws and rules with regards to their rights over their own lands. This allowed them to set up casinos and other gambling establishments like bingo halls. And they can't be taxed by the federal government. In order to regulate and aid their own gaming industry, there are a number of organizations. Probably the best known is the Tribal Gaming Commissions, which allow oversight to all casinos across all states.