Do you live on land stolen from Indians?
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In 2010 the Census bureau reported that Buffalo County,
South Dakota was the poorest in the nation, with well
over half its residents below the poverty level. Buffalo
County contains the Crow Creek Indian reservation.
Six of the other ten poorest counties in the nation also
consist of Indian reservations: Pine Ridge, Cheyenne
River, Rosebud, and Standing Rock in South Dakota; and
Navajo and Fort Apache in Arizona. Wade Hampton in
Alaska is also among the ten poorest counties, and over
90 precent of its inhabitants are Native Americans,
mostly Eskimo. Nationwide, nearly a quarter of all
Indians live in poverty, twice the national average.
In 1988 Congress proposed to alleviate the plight
of Native Americans with the Indian Gaming
Regulatory Act. It allowed tribes to own casinos and
other gambling operations. Within two decades, over
200 tribes had built 360 casinos and gaming establish-
ments. By 2009, annual revenue from Indian casinos
exceeded $25 billion, twice as much as the combined
income of the National Football League (NFL) and
Major League Baseball.
But little of the casino revenue has flowed to the
poorest reservations. Foxwoods in Connecticut, the largest
casino in the United States, generates about $1 billion