"A dollar won is twice as sweet as a dollar earned." (Proverb)

.....Ruthie Grimsley in a comment on yesterday's blog on gambling wanted to know how Native Americans can get such "a good " deal out of running casinos.  Might as well continue the theme of gambling then. Here's the answer then according to Wikipedea:

-In the early 1970s, Russell and Helen Bryan, a married Chippewa couple living in a mobile home on Indian lands in northern Minnesota, received a property tax bill from the local county, Itasca County. The Bryans had never received a property tax bill from the county before. Unwilling to pay it, they took the tax notice to local legal aid attorneys  who brought suit to challenge the tax in the state courts. The Bryans lost their case in the state district court, and they lost again on appeal in a unanimous decision by The Minnesota Supreme Court. They then sought review in the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court granted review, and in a sweeping and unanimous decision authored by Justice Brennan, the Supreme Court held not only that states do not have authority to tax Indians on Indian reservations, but that they also lack the authority to regulate Indian activities by Indians on Indian reservations. As Gaming Law Professor Kevin K. Washburn has explained, the stage was now set for Indian gaming. Within a few short years, enterprising Indians and tribes began to operate Indian bingo operations in numerous different locations around the United States.  

Foxwood Casino

....Now since states cannot regulate activities on Indian land, casinos popped up on reservations all over the country including those of the Seminoles' in Florida. The Foxwoods Resort Casino opened in 1992 in Ledyard, Connecticut. Operated by  Mashantucket Pequot Tribe and earning $1.5 billion. It is more profitable than any one casino in Las Vegas or Atlantic City.With 7,200 slot machines and 380 table games, making the 314,000-square-foot  Foxwoods Casino the largest casino in the USA and second largest in the world (after the Venetian Macao).  Connecticut also harbors the second largest casino in the United States--the Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino run by the Mohegan tribe.   

.....Now, I hope that we have all learned something.  If you want to play slot machines, Connecticut is the place to go.  It's location is superb for the Native Americans' billion dollar business--between New York and Boston.  You can spend several days there, of course.  Not only does it harbor a casino, but it is also a hotel resort offering elite rooms for the discriminating guests.