Porter testifies on Internet gaming

SALAMANCA, NY (Release) - Seneca Nation of Indians President Robert Odawi Porter today urged a U.S. Senate committee to make sure any legislation permitting internet gambling allows Indian nations to retain benefits from on-territory gaming.

Testifying before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs at the invitation of Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawaii, President Porter said internet gambling is the next frontier and Indians should not get run off of it.

"I believe it is in the best interests of each member of this committee … to join with the Seneca Nation and with other Indian tribes in protecting the existing jobs at tribal brick-and-mortar gaming facilities and in preserving the right of Indian nations to meaningfully and substantially participate, from the outset, in any new internet gaming authorized under federal law,” President Porter told the committee.

He noted that in recent years, Big Gaming interests, like Big Tobacco before them, allied themselves with state regulatory interests in Nevada and New Jersey and pushed for federal internet gaming legislation that excluded Indian tribes. It would bestow upon Nevada and New Jersey interests monopolistic control of internet gambling operations.

The truth is this: the Seneca Nation and dozens of other tribal gaming operations, are as or more sophisticated in terms of management, security, oversight and regulation than the biggest and best operators in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.