Gambling success brings controversy for tribe

LEDYARD, Connecticut -- As reported by Reuters: "Most of the past 400 years have been miserable for the Mashantucket Pequot. Almost annihilated by English settlers and the smallpox, the survivors were enslaved and scattered. Reduced to just a few dozen members by the 1970s, they grew lettuce and tapped maple syrup, living in poverty in trailers on a scrap of Connecticut woods.

"Gambling has changed all that.

"Now, they own Foxwoods, the biggest casino in North America, and the tribe's 800 to 900 members are rich.

"...But the tribe has found that with this success comes controversy.

"Since the tribe won federal recognition in 1983, critics have questioned the authenticity of their tribal ancestry, saying that many people turned out to be Pequots when the prospect of a casino entered the picture.

"Some had considered the tribe to be extinct, wiped out by the settlers and other native tribes, including the Mohegan, the traditional enemies of the Pequot, in the 1636-1637 Pequot War.

"Hitting back at these critics, the Mashantucket Pequot Museum opened an exhibition on May 17, the day after the new tower was opened, called "Race: Are We So Different?"

"...One of the first items on display in the museum is a oversized photograph of some 100 tribal members ranging from fair-skinned blondes and red-heads to blacks and people who look more like the classic image of native Americans.

"The diversity stems from the many mixed marriages over the last 400 years with people of different ethnicities.

"...With the largest square footage of gambling space of any casino on the continent, Foxwoods is the biggest player in the thriving Indian gaming industry, which was worth more than $27 billion nationwide in gross revenues in 2007.

"The 30-story MGM Grand adds another 1,400 slot machines to Foxwoods' existing 7,200, as well as a 4,000-seat theater that hosted Gloria Estefan on Memorial Day Weekend in May, restaurants with celebrity chefs and a luxurious spa.

"...The tribe numbers around 800 to 900 people, around half of them under 18, and they receive payments from the casino profits.

"...Since the casino opened in 1992, the Mashantucket Pequots have given some $2.6 billion to the state, 25 percent of slot revenues. As a sovereign nation, the tribe is not required to pay taxes or to make public its financial reports.

"...With Foxwoods, people tend to focus on the enormous wealth," said Angela Gonzalez, a Hopi tribe member who teaches American Indian studies at Cornell University.

"What tribal gaming development has done is really reverse this history of poverty that many tribes have confronted for years," she said. But she added that it nonetheless remains controversial, with some arguing that gambling runs counter to tribal traditions and risks making native people too materialistic..."