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Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law and Policy

The Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law and Policy provides legal and policy assistance related to tribal gaming enterprises to all interested governments and organizations, assists tribes with gaming enterprises in pursuing reservation economic development and building strong tribal governments, and contributes to the scholarly and practical research and literature in the area of tribal gaming.

The Institute's primary focus is on the particular issues faced by tribes in the Great Plains, including North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Wyoming, and Montana. The institute offers an interdisciplinary perspective on tribal gaming, incorporating law, political science, and public administration.

Co-Directors:

Dean Kathryn R.L. Rand
rand@law.und.edu

Dr. Steven Light
steven_light@und.nodak.edu

About the Institute

Co-Directors Kathryn R.L. Rand (Law) and Steven Andrew Light (Political Science) founded the Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law and Policy at the University of North Dakota in 2002 as the first university-affiliated institute in the U.S. dedicated to the study of Indian gaming. The Institute provides legal and policy assistance and analysis to all interested individuals, governments, and organizations, and conducting scholarly and practical research in the area of tribal gaming.

The Institute adopts a unique “team-based” interdisciplinary approach to legal and policy analysis of the complicated and highly technical issues related to Indian gaming, including regulation and agency authority, policy and socioeconomic impact analysis, tribal-state compacting, Class II vs. Class III gaming, tribal law and sovereignty, federal Indian law, labor relations, state referenda and voter initiatives, the federal acknowledgment process, land-into-trust applications, and “off-reservation” gaming.

About the Co-Directors

Kathryn R.L. Rand

(J.D., University of Michigan School of Law; B.A., University of North Dakota) is Dean and Floyd B. Sperry Professor of Law at the University of North Dakota School of Law.

Steven Andrew Light

(Ph.D., Northwestern University; B.A., Yale University) is Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of North Dakota College of Business and Public Administration.

Rand and Light are internationally recognized experts on Indian gaming, having published over 30 journal articles, book chapters, and essays, and three books: Indian Gaming Law: Cases and Materials (Carolina Academic Press, 2008), Indian Gaming Law and Policy (Carolina Academic Press, 2006), and Indian Gaming and Tribal Sovereignty: The Casino Compromise (University Press of Kansas, 2005). They have twice testified on Indian gaming regulation before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C., and were featured on C-SPAN’s Book TV. They frequently present their research and perspectives on Indian gaming before diverse audiences, including professional and trade groups, tribal and non-tribal civic associations, academic conferences, and university endowed lectures. Rand and Light have been quoted extensively by media throughout the world, including the New York Times, Boston Globe, Miami Herald, Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald, International Herald Tribune, San Diego Union-Tribune, and Bloomberg Media. Both are members of the International Masters of Gaming Law, and Rand is on the Editorial Board of the Gaming Law Review. Rand and Light write a column, “Indian Gaming Today,” that appears regularly in Casino Lawyer magazine, and have written for Casino Enterprise Management and Indian Gaming magazines. 

PUBLICATIONS RELATED TO INDIAN GAMING

BOOKS

Indian Gaming and Tribal Sovereignty: The Casino Compromise

Steven Andrew Light & Kathryn R.L. Rand
University Press of Kansas, 2005
[link: http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/ligind.html]

Indian Gaming Law: Cases and Materials

Kathryn R.L. Rand & Steve Andrew Light

Carolina Academic Press, 2008
[link: http://www.cap-press.com/books/1658]

Indian Gaming Law and Policy

Kathryn R.L. Rand & Steven Andrew Light
Carolina Academic Press, 2006
[link: http://www.cap-press.com/books/1432]

BOOK CHAPTERS AND ESSAYS

Steven Andrew Light, Indian Gaming and State-Level Constraints on Tribal Interest-Group Behavior, in Enfranchising Indian Country: The Politics and Organization of Native American Gaming Interests (Tracy A. Skopek & Kenneth N. Hansen eds., Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2008)

Kathryn R.L. Rand, State Law, State Politics, and State Courts: Indian Gaming and Intergovernmental Relations, in Enfranchising Indian Country: The Politics and Organization of Native American Gaming Interests (Tracy A. Skopek & Kenneth N. Hansen eds., Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2008)

Kathryn R.L. Rand & Steven Andrew Light, The Moral Landscape of Indian Gaming: Is It Any Different?, in Gambling and the American Moral Landscape (Alan Wolfe & Erik Owens ed., 2009)

Steven Andrew Light & Kathryn R.L. Rand, Within Boundaries: Indian Gaming in North Dakota, in Gambling, Space, and Time (Pauliina Raento & David Schwartz, eds., Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2009)

Kathryn R.L. Rand, Native American Gaming, in Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society (Richard T. Shaefer ed., Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2008)

Kathryn R.L. Rand & Steven Andrew Light, North Dakota, in International Casino Law (William Thompson & Anthony Cabot, eds., Reno: Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming, 2007)

JOURNAL AND LAW REVIEW ARTICLES

Steven Andrew Light, Indian Gaming and Intergovernmental Relations: State-Level Constraints On Tribal Political Influence Over Policy Outcomes, 38 Am. Rev. of Public Administration 225 (2008)

Kathryn R.L. Rand, Alan P. Meister, & Steven Andrew Light, Questionable Federal “Guidance” on Off-Reservation Indian Gaming: Legal and Economic Issues, 12 Gaming L. Rev. 194 (2008)

Kathryn R.L. Rand, Caught in the Middle: How State Politics, State Law, and State Courts Constrain Tribal Influence Over Indian Gaming, 90 Marq. L. Rev. 971 (2007)

Kathryn R.L. Rand & Steven Andrew Light, How Congress Can and Should “Fix” the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act: Recommendations for Law and Policy Reform, 13 Va. J. Soc. Pol’y & L. 396-473 (2006)

Steven Andrew Light & Kathryn R.L. Rand, The “Tribal Loophole”: Federal Campaign Finance Law and Tribal Political Participation After Jack Abramoff, 10 Gaming L. Rev. 230-39 (2006)

Steven Andrew Light, Intergovernmental Administration and Tribal Governments: A Brief Overview, 29 Am. Soc’y for Public Admin. Section on Intergovernmental Admin. & Mgmt. Newsl. 2-3 (2005)

Steven Andrew Light, The Third Sovereign: Indian Gaming as a Teaching Case in Intergovernmental Relations and Public Administration, 10 J. of Public Affairs Educ. 311-27 (2004)

Steven Andrew Light, Kathryn R.L. Rand, & Alan Meister, Spreading the Wealth: Indian Gaming and Revenue Sharing Agreements, 80 N.D. L. Rev. 657-69 (2004)

Steven Andrew Light & Kathryn R.L. Rand, Reconciling the Paradox of Tribal Sovereignty: Three Frameworks for Developing Indian Gaming Law and Policy, 4 Nev. L.J. 262-84 (2004)

Kathryn R.L. Rand, There Are No Pequots on the Plains: Assessing the Success of Indian Gaming, 5 Chapman L. Rev. 47-86 (2002)

Kathryn R.L. Rand & Steven A. Light, Raising the Stakes: Tribal Sovereignty and Indian Gaming in North Dakota, 5 Gaming L. Rev. 329-40 (2001)

Steven A. Light & Kathryn R.L. Rand, Are All Bets Off? Off-Reservation Indian Gaming in Wisconsin, 5 Gaming L. Rev. 351-63 (2001)

Kathryn R.L. Rand, At Odds? Perspectives on the Law and Politics of Indian Gaming, 5 Gaming L. Rev. 297-98 (2001) (introduction to special issue on Indian gaming)

Kathryn R.L. Rand & Steven A. Light, Virtue or Vice? How IGRA Shapes the Politics of Native American Gaming, Sovereignty, and Identity, 4 Va. J. Soc. Pol’y & L. 381-437 (1997)

CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY

Statement Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Oversight Hearing on the National Indian Gaming Commission (2008) (pdf)
Kathryn R.L. Rand & Steven Andrew Light

Statement Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Oversight Hearing on the Regulation of Indian Gaming (2005) (pdf)
Kathryn R.L. Rand & Steven Andrew Light

 

UND School of Law
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701.777.2104

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School of Law

215 Centennial Dr Stop 9003
Grand Forks, ND 58202

701.777.2104

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