Looking for a way to earn a living for his family, Fred Dakota laid the foundation for a multimillion-dollar industry. He reasoned that a loophole in American law gave him the right to open a casino as a Native American. Dakota, who died at the age of 84, set in motion an unprecedented development.
Dakota was unemployed in the early 1980s and had no chance of finding a job quickly because of the recession, especially as a member of a disadvantaged population. Then he remembered that the leaders of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community to which he belonged had stretched the rules on gambling without much publicity.
In the 1970s, bingo halls were set up in more and more Indian reservations. This was allowed because the US Supreme Court had ruled that the jurisdiction of individual states was severely limited by the historic treaties with Native American tribes. If something was not outright banned, the different tribes were allowed to regulate it themselves, such as alcohol sales. Or gambling.
The Keweenaw Bay community had also introduced bingo rules to earn money for community projects. On a whim, it was decided to add rules for casinos. Nobody took advantage of that until Dakota was the first in the US to apply for such a casino license. The tribal council laughed at the request, but readily agreed.
Garage
With a $10,000 loan, Dakota converted his brother-in-law’s garage into a casino. He made blackjack tables himself with green felt, he bought playing cards and chips at a department store and with his wife Dakota learned how to deal from a book. “When you have five children to feed, you naturally become creative,” he later said of the project.
The initiative caught on: the first evening dozens of people came by and soon he had to hire more croupiers and cram extra gaming tables into the garage. Within six months he was able to have his own building built, The Pines.
However, with the new opportunity, the legal problems also began. The validity of his license has been questioned. A judge eventually ruled that Dakota was indeed not allowed to run a casino: gambling in his state of Michigan was only allowed for nonprofits, not for individuals.
Billions
Although Dakota lost its casino as a result, Native American nonprofits were able to take advantage of this loophole. This opened up a lucrative source of income for a population group that until then had mainly been persecuted, neglected or ignored.
The tribes could save the billions from the ‘Native American gambling‘ focus on education, public health, improving infrastructure and preserving traditions. About 250 tribes bring in about 30 billion annually.
Although Dakota ultimately lost money on his adventure, he looks back on it with pride. For him it was also a way to underline the sovereignty of his people.
“Nobody ever wants to talk about what’s been done to us, how we’ve been slaughtered and our culture has declined,” he said in a 2012 interview. “But we are the only true native people of America. And I won’t let that be forgotten.”
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