The Chitimacha: You lose what you have to, to survive

Part 2 of our series on Native American Tribes of the Southeast will focus on the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, first of the Federally Recognized Indian Tribes in the Southeastern Nine States.  The Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana was federally recognized in 1916 by an Executive Order signed by President Woodrow Wilson. This followed a 200-plus year battle to physically survive, save their culture and reclaim a small portion of their homeland.

In the 17^th century when the Chitimacha had their first contact with European explorers and other non-indigenous people, the Chitimacha were known as the most powerful tribe with 29 population centers between what is now Florida and Texas.

In 1706, as a response French aggression including slave raids, a group of Chitimacha killed a priest and slave owner along with several missionaries who were members of the French party. The ensuing war lasted 12 years and took the lives of the majority of Chitimacha. In addition many Chitimacha were taken into slavery by the French and other tribes. The war ended when a treaty was signed by a French leader and Chitimacha Chief in New Orleans.

As a result of the war Chitimacha population centers to the east were pushed to the west and south. They retreated across the Atchafalaya Basin to Chitimacha population centers located along Grand Lake and Bayou Teche, across what is now south Louisiana and where the tribe remains today.

Following the peace treaty the French and later the Spanish and United States governments officially recognized the integrity of the Chitimacha Tribe and its right to land ownership. But in 1846 the Chitimacha were forced to sue the Federal government to confirm their title to their lands. Their land claim amounted to 1,093.43 acres, a loss of 80 percent of the land from the 1826 claims. This was further whittled away through a sale by “Chieftess” Eugina Soulier Rouge and judgements against the Tribe for taxes owed to the State of Louisiana and by 1903 the remaining land by the Tribe was down to 470 acres and then finally down to 261.54 acres.  Finally, in 1916 this land was placed in trust for the beneficial use of the Chitimacha Tribe through the intervention of Sara Mclhenny, a member of the family who owns the Tobasco Company and a friend of the Tribe. In 1916 the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana was federally recognized by the United States government and the 261.54 acres of land created their reservation.

During the last several decades the Tribe has excelled. In 1970 the Tribal Members voted give up the traditional government by chief system and adopt a constitutional form of government. In 1978 they built a beautiful new Tribal school, early learning center and Chitimacha Language Center. In 1993 this sovereign nation established and built Cypress Bayou, the first land-based casino in Louisiana. They continue to develop their reservation land and enterprises. The casino had doubled in size and they have built the Cypress Bayou Hotel and an event center as part of the casino and hotel complex.

They are most proud of their great measure and success in re-establishing the lost Chitimacha language in their struggle to survive. This is a story of a dynamic re-establishment of a people and their culture. By 1932 Cajun French had nearly replaced the language and only two people spoke Chitimacha fluently. A Yale University linguist Morris Swadesh worked with the two elders to preserve the language on wax cylinders and they created an unprecedented two hundred hours of recordings.

The Tribe began the monumental task of reawakening the language that no tribal member could speak.  From muddled, scratching wax cylinder recordings, Granberry devised learning materials for children and adults and distributed the materials to every Chitimacha household from Louisiana to Germany. They also instituted language classes to bring the ancient words to Tribe members of all ages.

The Chitimacha tribal cultural director sums it up like this: “It’s not our fault the language was lost.  When people are being shot in their yards or being drug behind horses and hung, you lose what you have to, to survive.”

Ralph Darden, former Chairman of the Chitimacha Tribe, 1989-1998 said, “To still walk this same land our ancestors walked.  To again be able to care and provide for our people and those around us.  To rekindle the pride in being Chitimacha.  That is the greatest gift we can give our children.”

Nations Within, the Four Sovereign Tribes of Louisiana, Louisiana State University Press, 2003

The Southeastern Indians by Charles Hudson; Tribes of the Southern Woodlands, Time-Life Books 

The Ten Native American Tribes of the Southeastern US

In our first blog of this series, we discussed some of the challenges that Native American groups face in the Federal recognition process. The government has since announced changes to the recognition process that will address some of those challenges.

In this series we will discuss the struggle of the ten southeastern tribes to maintain their cultures, their land and their families and gain their recognition and sovereignty while the U.S. Government and State Governments attempted to eliminate and exterminate them. Ten Tribes did succeed in surviving and maintaining their cultures following The Indian Removal Act of 1830 which targeted the tribes of the southeast.

In order to gain federal recognition, a tribe was forced to present documentation detailing their continued existence and proving their ties to their homeland. This was an excruciating task for groups who were forcefully removed from their homeland, may not have had a written history and whose oral histories were disrupted by the removal of their children and the eradication of their native languages.

We will present the tribes in chronological order according to the year they gained their sovereignty and federal recognition from the United States Government:

• 1916 – Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana
• 1924 – Eastern Band of Cherokee
• 1945 – Mississippi Band of Choctaw
• 1957 – Seminole Tribe of Florida
• 1962 – Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida
• 1973 – Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana
• 1981 – Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana
• 1984 – Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama
• 1993 – Catawba Indian nation of South Carolina
• 1995 – Jena Band of Choctaw of Louisiana

What’s Hot, What’s Not: Our Louisiana – Mississippi Casino and Racino Tour

Our travels took us to 22 casinos and 2 racinos in the two states last month. We visited Bossier City-Shreveport, Lake Charles, Central Louisiana and New Orleans facilities in Louisiana plus a number of facilities in the Bay St. Louie and Biloxi, Mississippi areas.

What’s Hot – New Hotel Rooms, 1435 new rooms since late December 2014. 

• Golden Nuggets, Lake Charles, Louisiana = 740

• Boomtown, Harvey/New Orleans area…. = 150

• Island View, Gulfport/Biloxi, Mississippi…= 405

• Silver Slipper, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi = 140

• Coushatta Casino Resort, Kinder/Lake Charles, Louisiana – Opened 208 rebranded and remodeled Grand Hotel designated for adults 21 and older only.

• Boyd Gaming announced a $45 million expansion of the hotel and racino facility at their Vinton, Louisiana, Delta Downs Facility.

• The new Scarlet Pearl Casino and Hotel in d’Iberville/Biloxi market is scheduled to open its casino and 500 room hotel facility later this year.

• Bossier City:  Great crowds and activity at Margaritaville and the Horseshoe.

• Central Louisiana:  Great crowds and activity at the Casino, Racetrack and food areas at Evangeline Downs.

• Lake Charles Area:  Great crowds and activity at the Golden Nugget, L’auberge and the Coushatta Casino Resort.

• Bay St. Louis:  Great Crowds and activity at the Silver slipper.

• Gulfport, Mississippi:  Island View’s beautiful beach hotel with great crowds and activity.

• We observed the “forgotten” Gen-X crowd prominently represented in a number of the facilities we visited.

• A baseball game at the new MGM Park, home of the Biloxi Shuckers.

What’s Not

• The smoking ban in New Orleans – Gaming revenues are off at Harrah’s and the Fairgrounds. Nearby casinos not affected by the smoking ban -- The Treasure Chest in Kinner and Boomtown in Harvey, both in the New Orleans market -- are up for four of the five months. Casino operators would prefer the no-smoking policies be carried out in a way that doesn’t drive their customers down the road to a smoking facility.

• Gaming revenues at Harrah’s Louisiana Downs Racino are way off again this year.  Unfortunately, the facility looks as shabby as the gaming revenue numbers.

• Gaming revenues at Diamond jacks, Bossier City, Louisiana were down each of the first five months. During our visit we saw very slow activity in the casino and food areas.

• The near-total absence of the highly sought-after millennials at most of the facilities.  Heads up --  start promoting to the Gen-X age group.  It will likely pay off. (More to come on this)

IRS gaming proposal creates hubbub that ignores privacy concerns

The IRS has proposed several changes to the reporting requirements around bingo, keno and slots gambling, including:

• Reducing the threshold for jackpots from $1200 to $600
• New rules for determining the reporting threshold for electronic slot machine play
• Redefining a “single session" of play
• The potential use of player loyalty card information by the IRS

The first change which would reduce the reporting threshold from $1200 to $600 has received the most attention. The slot jackpot threshold of $1200 was created in the 1970s, so many are saying that the threshold should instead reflect inflation which would make it close to $5000 in today’s dollars. Operators contend that the reduced threshold would be onerous, as they would need to have more staff available to handle the paperwork. Players claim that the lowered threshold would push them away from slots. These arguments have merit, but response to this proposal distracted from other issues (one Bloomberg article said comment letters have read like a “Contentious Reddit Thread”). And the IRS is only proposing that the possibility to reduce the threshold be open for future consideration. There are far more alarming issues to consider in the IRS proposal.

Those alarm bells begin to sound with the proposed redefined of a “single session” of electronic slot machine play. This would require reporting on any electronically-tracked slot machines of any jackpot over $1200 if wins within that single session exceed $1200 (with the potential to reduce the threshold to $600). The “single session” would be defined as the time within a calendar day (defined as midnight from one night to the next), from the moment a player places her first bet on a particular type of game until her last within one facility.

In plain English – the slots will track spending for a 24-hour period. If there is a jackpot of $1200 AND total wins exceed $1200, the player will get a W-2G. This proposal actually begins to look almost player-friendly by allowing players to subtract losses from wins. However, the IRS is still proposing a potentially reduced threshold fro $1200 to $600 for both jackpot and single session -- if this happens, it will increase reporting, in addition to mass confusion about the revised single session concept. 

To me, though, the biggest concern, and what I have seen least addressed in the news, is the proposed electronic tracking. The reporting requirements for electronic slot play seem inherently tied to the issue of allowing the IRS to use loyalty cards to track wins and losses. The IRS would need to electronically track players using their Social Security numbers in order to determine the wins and losses in the redefined “single session.” They have proposed doing so through the casinos’ own loyalty card programs, hijacking programs developed for marketing purposes.

The data that the IRS wants casinos to provide them would include Social Security numbers*, which raises any number of questions and concerns. What other data are they receiving? How is the IRS receiving the data? Is it secure? Casino operators testified that sharing their loyalty information with the IRS will negatively affect their ability to use their loyalty programs for marketing, and the response from players has supported this.

It seems as though the IRS overstepped their bounds with this proposal, trying to cover too much ground. If they had instead started with an attempt to redefine the single session, there would be a lot less confusion and backlash, and if it truly is better for players, then they would be able to demonstrate that. Instead, the entire proposal is lost in a whole maelstrom of hullabaloo.

All of this is based on my own reading of the request for comment and the IRS’s documents. My interpretation might be incorrect. I’m not a tax guy or lawyer. The IRS held a public hearing for feedback on June 17^th and expect to have a decision by the end of the year.

*The IRS’s own guide to identity theft directs citizens to avoid giving out an SSN to businesses unless absolutely necessary. 

The SE States – 9 States, 21% of the US Population… But Only 2% of US Indian Tribes?

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 promoted by President Andrew Jackson ordered all of the Indians living east of the Mississippi River to move west of the Mississippi River and prompted the infamous Trail of Tears. One of the strongest motivators of the Indian Removal Act was the discovery of significant amounts of gold in the Dahlonega, Georgia, an area in the foothills of the smoky mountains. Nearly 200 years later, the United States still clearly reflects this tragedy in the population patterns of the Southeastern states.

Today, while almost 21% of the US population resides in the 9 southeastern states, there are only 10 Federally Recognized Indian Tribes, or less than 2% of the 566 Federally Recognized Indian Tribes in the United States. The chart below illustrates the imbalance. A number of tribes in the southeast have sought Federal recognition and faced numerous hurdles in proving their continued existence – a daunting task for a group that was forced out of their homeland at gunpoint.

This is the beginning of a monthly series that will feature a story of the plight of one of the 10 southeastern Tribes and an introduction to Tribes currently seeking Federal Recognition.  The posts are a tribute to the perseverance and tenacity of each of the Tribes.

State	Population (in millions)	Fed Rec Tribes
Alabama	4.8	1
Arkansas	3.0	0
Florida	19.9	2
Georgia	10.1m	0
Louisiana	4.6	4
Mississippi	3.0	1
North Carolina	9.9	1
South Carolina	4.8	0
Tennessee	6.5	0
Total Southeast US	66.8/20.9%	10/1.8%
Total U. S.	318.8	566

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Division, May 8, 2015.  

ONLINE GAMING: Adelson uses Republicans to step on states’ rights

The Restore America's Wire Act (RAWA) would impose a federal ban on all Internet gambling, including online state lotteries and poker. Currently, online gaming is alive and well -- and regulated -- in New Jersey and Nevada, while online lottery tickets are available in a handful of states.

RAWA is based on the original 1961 Wire Act, “originally intended and long understood as a narrow and targeted weapon to assist the states in preventing organized crime from taking bets on sports.” The Department of Justice’s current position on the original Wire Act as it applies to online gambling is that it only applies to online sports betting; a 2011 decision effectively allowed individual states to decide whether to allow online gambling.

RAWA was introduced by Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate in 2014, in the House (HR 707) in 2015. The only proponents of the Act appear to be Sheldon Adelson and his Las Vegas Sands group, and the Republican lawmakers hoping for campaign funding. The Act was by some reports actually written by Adelson’s lobbying group. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has not hidden the fact that his support of the bill is tied to Adelson’s support of his Presidential run. He introduced the Act in 2014 and his people say he intends to introduce it “soon” this year.

Opponents include casino groups including Caesars and MGM, conservative and Republicans and libertarians, who see the Act as an infringement on states’ rights, a number of Democratic representatives, and Native American groups who point out that the Act would infringe on their Tribal Sovereignty (more on this to come). 

Are Skills-Based Slots Coming to the Southeast?

Nevada governor Brian Sandoval recently signed a bill enabling regulators to adopt rules allowing slot machines to add a skill-based element. The bill was proposed by the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers following a study examining the effect of technology on gaming. Sandoval believes the games could appeal to a new generation of visitors.  

Attracting Millennial gamblers was a very hot topic at the Southern Gaming Summit earlier this month. At a panel on Millennials, panelists agreed that adding a skills-based element to slot machines could attract those who are more familiar with video games or, more importantly, social gaming such as Candy Crush. With Millennials spending an estimated 12 hours per week on average on social gaming, it is widely expected that introducing aspects of social gaming to slots would be highly attractive to the newest generation of gamblers.

Earlier this year, the Borgata in New Jersey offered a free throw-shooting competition. It was the first skills-based game to pass under the New Jersey First law, which encourages the development of casino games featuring social and skills-based elements. It was seen as highly successful, bringing unique visitors to the Borgata from across the US.

Will we see skills-based games in our region anytime soon? Not likely. Basically, each state determines whether to allow skills-based competitions for cash prizes, and determines whether a game is based on skills or chance with one of several tests. Of the 40 states that allow gambling, only 3 states allow games of chance – Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey. 

In southeastern states, where the demographic skews more conservative, politicians are unlikely to risk supporting, much less introducing, a bill to expand gambling. The southeastern region will not lead the way -- however, if skills-based gaming becomes more widely accepted across the US, look for the southeast to follow suit.