Testimony of General Counsel Lawrence S. Roberts
National Indian Gaming Commission
Senate Indian Affairs Hearing
November 17, 2011

Chairman Akaka, Vice-Chairman Barrasso, and Members of the Committee, I
want to begin by thanking you for inviting the Commission to testify today. My name is
Lawrence Roberts and I am a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. It is an honor
to appear before you to testify in my capacity as General Counsel of the National Indian
Gaming Commission (NIGC or Commission). Today, I will provide a brief overview of
the Commission’s history as well as the current size and location of NIGC offices today.
This overview will hopefully prove to be helpful as the Committee proceeds with its
hearing today.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) became law on October 17, 1988 and
created the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC), a federal civil regulatory
agency. Mr. Anthony Hope, the first Chairman of the NIGC, started at the Commission
on May 25, 1990, more than a year-and-a-half after the enactment of IGRA. The second
Commissioner, Mr. Joel Frank, Sr. was sworn into office on November 26, 1990 and the
third commissioner, Ms. Jana McKeag, joined the Commission almost a year after the
Chairman on April 10, 1991. In these early days, NIGC overcame common hurdles of a
new agency before becoming operational, such as securing office space, hiring staff and
promulgating initial regulations.

The agency proposed its first regulations on May 29, 1991, approximately a year
into Chairman Hope’s tenure. The first set of regulations concerned the collection of fees.
Since the NIGC is now funded entirely on fees assessed on tribal gaming operations,

promulgation of these regulations was a top priority and critical to the Commission. The


Fee regulations were finalized on August 15, 1991, nearly three years after the enactment
of IGRA.

The Fee regulations were followed by regulations addressing other statutory
duties of the Commission such as approval of gaming ordinances, approval of
management contracts, and compliance and enforcement procedures. These and other
regulations became effective on February 22, 1993. Thus, it was not until 1993 that the
NIGC began to fully carry out its responsibilities under IGRA. The delay in promulgating
regulations governing the approval of ordinances and management contracts may have
slowed the entry of tribes into the gaming arena. During this interim period, the
Department of the Interior continued to exercise authorities relating to the supervision of
Indian gaming as provided in IGRA.

In early 1993, Chairman Hope explained that the Commission had seventeen
employees and that an estimated 175 tribes operated 200 gaming operations. By October
1993, the NIGC had a staff of twenty-seven which included the three Commissioners, the
General Counsel, six field representatives, financial analysts and administrative support
staff.

Since 1993, the Commission has grown as the industry has grown. We have gone
from twenty-seven employees in 1993 to seventy-three employees in 2000 to one
hundred and twenty-six in 2010. Currently the agency has seven regional offices, along
with three satellite offices located throughout the nation. Since becoming operational, the
Commission has continued to review, amend and promulgate regulations as the Indian

gaming industry has matured. The Commission is currently in the process of reviewing


its regulations and seeking input from Tribes and the public in an effort to identify areas
of improvement and any needed changes

The Commission is the Federal civil regulatory agency for Indian gaming, with
the Department of the Interior performing discrete functions pursuant to IGRA. As the
Committee is well aware, several Congresses have considered legislation that would
authorize internet poker or internet gaming. None of the internet gaming bills currently
pending before Congress provide NIGC with a regulatory role. NIGC is not in a position
to speculate on the particulars of any legislative proposal for which there is no clear role
contemplated for NIGC.

This concludes my testimony. Thank you again, Chairman Akaka, Vice-
Chairman Barrasso and Members of the Committee for your time and attention today. I

am happy to answer any questions that you may have for me.

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