When I was growing up in and around New York City in the 1950s, Indians were a big part of my life. After all, Westerns were the great subject in movies and in the early days of television. So the images of American Indians as the bad guys were shoved down my throat at every turn.

But somehow, the Indians in these programs were much more intriguing than the cowboys. They were invariably brave (if a little too bloodthirsty), and they were almost always honorable (if a little too vicious). They were magic on the screen (even if they were mostly played by white actors).

But mostly, they were something that one encountered in real life only on the great Western plains, not on the East Coast.

In New York City, the only time the Indians were mentioned was when they were receiving $24 in trinkets from Peter Minuet in what could only be described as one of the greatest swindles in history (and now, of course, recognized as a total fabrication).

As I was maturing during the ’60s, I took a great interest in U.S. history and grew to understand that the images presented on the TV and movie screens were just a figment of some writer’s (most likely a white one) imagination.

When I first began to meet actual Native Americans in the late 1960s, I was shocked that their lifestyle had not changed much at all from the days they were forced onto reservations in the 1800s. And when some radical factions of the Native American movement took over the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the early ’70s, I covered that event as a young student-journalist and felt a kinship with the occupiers.

So since my life evolved into a journalist covering gaming more than 25 years ago, I have always been moved by the success that Indian gaming has brought to some of the nation’s poorest and most destitute tribes. I have repeatedly said over the past 20 years that Indian gaming is the best story ever to come out of the casino industry.

While some have criticized gaming as a product and a service with no positive result, all I have to do is to point to Indian gaming as proof that gaming can make a hugely important difference in the lives of ordinary (and extraordinary) people.

In this issue of Tribal Government Gaming, we opted to look at the impact of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, 20 years after its passage in 1988. While all previous issues of Tribal Government Gaming have presented the good news about Indian gaming and the impact it has had on tribes and the surrounding communities, this issue takes a look at the controversial IGRA and its ramifications in Indian Country; for it has shaped the Indian gaming industry in ways good and bad.

NIGC Chairman Phil Hogen takes the position that Indian gaming, as defined by the IGRA, represents a great victory.

On the other side of the coin, NIGA’s Ernie Stevens proclaims the California vs. Cabazon decision to be the high-water point of Indian gaming and says the IGRA watered down that victory.

And take the furious Class II debate. While the National Indian Gaming Commission has sought to provide a “bright line” between Class II and Class III gaming machines for years-in order to provide the Department of Justice some clarity about how to identify the two versions of the machines-every proclamation that the NIGC has reached the “eureka” moment has been challenged by both tribes and manufacturers as potential economic disaster for Indian Country.

Judy Shapiro describes the latest machinations that have occurred during the past year, beginning on page 24.

Kate Spilde-Contreras focuses on the important issue of responsible gaming in Indian Country. Native Americans have always had a compassion for people, both on the reservations and off, so Kate’s important work in this area should be understood, starting on page 8.

David Schwartz, who is quickly becoming the leading researcher in the gaming industry, gives us a historical perspective of the IGRA and Indian gaming pioneers on page 16.

And finally, we examine some of the ways Indian gaming has impacted its communities, tribes and the commercial gaming industry, with three stories on economic diversification, technological advances in gaming equipment that began in Indian Country and possible changes to the IGRA being contemplated by Congress.

We hope you enjoy this fifth annual edition of Tribal Government Gaming. As always, it is dedicated to the men and women of Indian gaming and their commitment to providing a better future for all of us.