Responding to the Supreme Court decision, Congress enacted the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. As a result, Native Americans generally have welcomed the boost to their economies, despite the social problems that can accompany gambling.

Other tribes allocate revenues to tribal members through direct payments. Revenues from gaming often are allocated to infrastructure, education, and other critical features of life on tribal lands. Gaming creates employment opportunities for Native Americans and provides tribes with an important funding channel. Hundreds of tribes now manage gaming operations, generating billions of dollars each year. As long as a state allows a certain type of gaming in any form, state regulations controlling that type of gaming do not apply on tribal lands. Thus, if a state completely prohibited a type of gaming, this law would prevent tribes from offering that type of gaming. Activities on tribal lands may be subject only to criminal (prohibitory) state laws. Courts ruled that Native American gaming operations were not subject to state regulations because these laws were civil (regulatory), rather than criminal (prohibitory).

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