NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING COMMISSION

CHAIR’S NOTICE – Chairman E. Sequoyah Simermeyer

Visit www.NIGC.gov to learn more about the NIGC 3 For 35 Project— a 

year-long project emphasizing the importance of conversations among 

the tribal gaming regulatory community about workforce preparedness.

Date: October 17, 2023

Re: IGRA’s 35th Anniversary

Today, October 17, 2023, marks the 35-year anniversary of Indian 

Gaming Regulatory Act’s enactment. As the Indian gaming industry 

has grown today to be an over $40 billion industry with over 500 

operations licensed by nearly 250 tribal governments on Indian land 

in 29 states; there are over three decades worth of views from

tribal governments, regulators, operators and the industry’s 

partners about the federal law’s impact and its potential for the 

future.

From the NIGC’s national perspective, the law established the 

Commission as a federal regulatory body with a unique set of 

responsibilities, the purpose of which is to help ensure Indian 

gaming remains a governmental resource for those tribes who pursue 

gaming. As a source for much needed opportunity in many tribal 

communities, Indian gaming supports necessary social programs, 

cultivates governing capacity, and builds economies. All three of 

which work together to help ensure more self-sufficient tribal 

communities and stronger tribal governments.

Given Indian gaming’s impact and potential, meeting IGRA’s 

regulatory responsibilities as the law intended requires every 

Commission to manage its authority with the goal of effective and 

efficient oversight and with a recognition of each tribal nation’s

distinct sovereign authority. IGRA also expects Indian gaming to 

remain governmental gaming, even amid the industry’s past (and 

future) growth and evolution.

The debates and legislative proposals that law makers were weighing 

leading up to IGRA’s enactment, demonstrate the diversity of 

positions and interests surrounding the judicially affirmed rights 

of tribes to govern and offer gaming. As law makers considered a 

framework to address how and by whom Indian gaming should be 

regulated; they put forward balances to many commercial and 

governmental questions. And amid the law’s continuing affirmation 

of tribes’ sovereign authority today; tribal governments’ 

dedication and vision has made Indian gaming an established and 

innovative part of the broader gaming industry.
NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING COMMISSION

CHAIR’S NOTICE – Chairman E. Sequoyah Simermeyer

Visit www.NIGC.gov to learn more about the NIGC 3 For 35 Project— a 

year-long project emphasizing the importance of conversations among 

the tribal gaming regulatory community about workforce preparedness.

Some of the unique gaming regulatory features created by IGRA and 

found only in Indian gaming include the implications of game 

classifications, the restricted governmental uses for gaming 

revenue, and the specific oversight and approval responsibilities 

held by the Federal regulator. These features are all aspects of 

Indian gaming’s oversight framework that make Indian gaming unlike 

any other part of the gaming industry; and in doing so aim for 

Indian gaming’s regulation to ensure Indian gaming exists to be a 

governmental economic resource held and controlled by tribal 

governments.

The national network of regulators working to protect an industrywide reputation is also a feature created by the law. That network 

made up predominantly of dedicated tribal regulators provides local 

solutions to detect and mitigate threats to gaming assets as well 

as a rich resource of creative approaches that shape those 

oversight practices that will reassure the public of Indian 

gaming’s integrity, safety, and economic success.

IGRA’s features have provided a path for Indian gaming’s regulators 

to meet the law’s objectives. From watershed shifts in gaming 

platforms and offerings, to the impact of a global pandemic on the 

industry, to the ever-growing considerations around the threats and 

opportunities technology represents for Indian gaming; IGRA 

provides the goals and objectives Indian gaming’s federal regulator 

is charged to achieve.

I hope you consider sharing your insights and experiences on the 

impact and potential of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act this week 

and encourage you to visit the NIGC’s website where in the coming 

days you can find a short video featuring other perspectives on 

this topic.

I am grateful for your interest in my perspective as a federal 

regulator, and the valuable insights of the many voices and 

perspectives featured on this video. Thank you for lending your 

voice and ideas for Indian Gaming’s future.

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