THE AMERICAS: The first Americans (a.k.a. the Indians)

Being conquered is never fun, and American Indians suffered terribly. President Andrew Jackson treated the Seminoles brutally, Now the U.S. is trying to make amends and to raise their living standards by allowing them to run gambling enterprises. Sensible people realized that gambling may bring money but it also brings corruption. I had not heard much about the Seminoles recently, but they are very much in TV news from Nicaragua. Pictures showed luxury hotels built on their reservation. Nicaraguan President José Antonio Alemán is accused of being involved in a dark gangster plot to take over the hotel. He naturally angrily rejects the charge. Whatever the truth, here is a case where gambling is of dubious benefit to the Indians. California is in danger of becoming pockmarked with casinos on Indian reservations to which stupid people flock with vain hopes of striking it rich. Already lotteries are turning one or two poor people into multimillionaires, luring millions of simple, mostly poor people to the poisonous honey pot.

Ronald Hilton - 7/9/01