United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office General Government Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1997-05-05 monographic deposited born digital 51 p. GA 1.13:GGD-97-91 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-91 P0b002ee1803a1cbf f:gg97091 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-91 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-91 GGD-97-91 Recreation Indian lands Native Americans Financial statements Financial statement audits Indian affairs legislation Profits Income taxes Tax exempt status Nevada Atlantic City (NJ) Letter Report GGD H12841

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided an updated profile of the Indian gaming industry, focusing on: (1) the amount of transfers to the tribes from their gaming facilities; (2) a comparison of Indian gaming revenues with the revenues generated by other legalized gaming activities; and (3) the federal tax treatment of Indian tribes and tribe members.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) as of December 31, 1996, 184 tribes were operating 281 gaming facilities; (2) for 178 of these facilities, operated by 126 tribes, GAO obtained and examined 1995 financial statements; (3) these 178 facilities reported generating gaming revenues (dollars wagered minus payouts) of about $4.5 billion, with 8 of them accounting for about 40 percent of these revenues; (4) the gaming facilities also reported generating over $300 million in revenues from sales such as food, beverages, and hotel rooms; (5) net income (total revenues minus expenses) reported for the 178 facilities was about $1.9 billion, representing 38 percent of the $4.9 billion total revenues; (6) according to the financial statements, about $1.6 billion was transferred to 106 tribes in 1995; (7) for 20 tribes, the financial statements did not show any transfers; (8) none of the financial statements indicated how the transfers were used by the tribes; (9) gaming revenues generated by all class II and class III Indian facilities for which GAO had financial statements equaled at least 10 percent of the estimated gaming revenues generated by legalized gaming reported by the gaming industry in 1995; (10) in the aggregate, 109 class III Indian facilities generated about the same total amount in gaming revenues as the 12 Atlantic City casinos and more than half the gaming revenues of the 213 Nevada casinos; (11) average gaming revenues for these Indian facilities were significantly less than those of Atlantic City casinos but about equal to the average for the Nevada casinos; (12) in terms of the distribution of gaming revenues among the facilities, class III Indian facilities were similar to Nevada casinos, a small proportion of the facilities accounted for a large share of the aggregate gaming revenues; (13) by contrast, the gaming revenues of the 12 Atlantic City casinos were more equally distributed; (14) the Internal Revenue Service has determined that Indian tribes are not subject to federal income tax because they are political agencies not included within the meaning of the income tax provisions of the Internal Revenue Code; (15) Indian tribes are not, however, tax-exempt organizations within the meaning of provisions of the Code that exempt certain categories of organizations from income tax; (16) individual tribe members are subject to federal income tax; and (17) payments of n* https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-91/html/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-91.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-91/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-91.pdf GAO/GGD-97-91 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-91 Letter Report GAO/GGD-97-91; Tax Policy: A Profile of the Indian Gaming Industry; Recreation Indian lands Native Americans Financial statements Financial statement audits Indian affairs legislation Profits Income taxes Tax exempt status Nevada Atlantic City (NJ) Title 25 Section 2701-2721 Title 25 Section 2710(b)(2) Title 25 Section 2710(b)(2)(C) Title 25 Section 461et seq. Title 25 Section 476 Title 25 Section 477 Title 25 Section 503 25 U.S.C. 2701-2721 25 U.S.C. 2710(b)(2) 25 U.S.C. 2710(b)(2)(C) 25 U.S.C. 461et seq. 25 U.S.C. 476 25 U.S.C. 477 25 U.S.C. 503 Title 43 Section 1601et seq. 43 U.S.C. 1601et seq. Volume 48 Page 984 48 Stat. 984 Volume 96 Page 2607 96 Stat. 2607 Public Law 97-473 S. Rept. 97-646