The debate centered on the issue of whether tribal governments possessed the authority to conduct gaming independently of state regulation. By the mid-1980s, a number of states had authorized charitable gaming, and some states were sponsoring state-operated lotteries.Īlthough government-sponsored gaming was an issue of mutual interest, tribal and state governments soon found themselves at odds over tribal gaming. At about that same time, a number of state governments were also exploring the potential for increasing state revenues through state-sponsored gaming. Tribal gaming, as we think of it today, dates back to the 1970s when a number of Indian tribes established bingo operations as a means of raising revenue to fund tribal government operations.