The Economic Impact of Native American Gaming: Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation

The purpose of this paper is to put the economic and social importance of Indian gambling on and off the reservation into perspective. Because the economic and social effects of Indian gaming are additive, one cannot form a coherent picture of the net impact of gaming without measuring both the economic and social effects (Cornell et al., 1998). Because gambling has impacts beyond reservation boundaries, studying the surrounding local economy is a necessary action. As both the number of tribes with gaming operations and the magnitude of the operations increase, so do their effects. This paper combines a general overview of existing studies and available data on Indian Tribes with a focused case study on the Mashantucket Pequots of Connecticut