Abstract
Mary Martinez did not realize she was a player in a high-stakes game—until she lost big. Martinez, a former vice chairwoman of the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians, was one of roughly 600 Picayune Chukchansi Indians stripped of tribal membership in 2007. Soon after, the tribe removed her from tribal housing, and her husband lost his job at the tribe’s Gold Resort and Casino. Martinez, 77, blames the tragic turn of events on greed tied to casino profits doled out as ‘‘per capita’’ payments to tribal citizens. ‘‘They kicked me to the curb so they could keep more money for themselves,’’ Martinez told a local news outlet in 2012. ‘‘Our ancestors would roll over in their graves if they knew.’’ The Picayune Rancheria is not the only tribe overcome with gaming-revenue-per-capita greed. Soon after the passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) in 1988, and the resulting Indian gaming boom, dozens of tribes began distributing gaming per capita payments to their citizens. Today 130 tribal governments are making those payments. Now, an increasing number of those tribes have been jettisoning their members,
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