Courses on Indian Casinos to Be Conducted by San Diego State University
26 July 2005
Last week, San Diego State University (SDSU) received a $5.47 million dollar donation from the Sycuan Indian tribe in East County. This is one of the largest contributions ever given to a university, and will be used to create one of the few institutes for Indian gaming in the country. The The Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Nations Institute on Tribal Gaming will be run by the university's hospitality and tourism management program.
Indian Casinos have proven their staying power, currently constituting a $19 billion industry. Over $5 billion of that yearly revenue comes from California, which has eight tribal casinos in San Diego alone.
According to officials, the institute will concentrate on three main areas. These include training students to work in the gambling industry, providing a public policy resource , and finally, performing research on tribal gaming issues.
Doing research and studies on casinos is not new. The University of Nevada's Las Vegas, and Reno campuses have both held many courses on Indian casinos. In addition, the University of North Dakota has opened an Institute that focuses on tribal gaming law and policy.
The Sycuan Institute will be the first research and academic center to focus exclusively on tribal casinos. However, the center and the tribe will remain as two separate entities, despite the tribe's contribution to the university.
Indian casinos are very different from the commercial casinos found in Nevada and New Jersey. Indian casinos are regulated and restricted in accordance with tribal-state gambling compacts, which are different in each state. Indian casinos are overseen by tribal gaming commissions, with added regulation coming from state and federal gaming authorities.
Indian casinos, similar to state lotteries, are state-run. The fifty two casinos in California are controlled by separare tribal governments, which differ in cultural outlook, long-term goals, and business complexity.
The California Indian gaming industry is the largest in the United States, and has provided employment for thousands of employees, many of whom knew very little, if anything at all, about tribal sovereignty or legal and regulatory issues before their employment.
Sycuan Casino general manger Steven Penhall said that this institute will assist tribal casinos to employ high quality mangers and executives that have an understanding of Indian gaming, who will be able educate the public regarding the tribes and the industry.
SDSU director Carl Winston, believes that by fall 2006, SDSU will accept students looking to major in hospitality, with a focus on tribal gambling. The university plans to host a yearly summit on tribal gambling that will attract researchers, business professionals as well as policy makers.
Source: Authorized Online Casinos News Staff
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