One of the least publicized elements is the tribes’ plans for the use of casino revenues. In the press, though, only some of the topics that are part of the issue are being raised. The debate involves Maine residents, state officials, and Native Americans – each faction contains pro and anti-casino opinions. One of the current sovereignty issues in the Northeast is the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribes’ efforts to establish a casino as source of tribal revenue. After hundreds of years of extermination, eugenics, racism, and forced migration, it is easier to believe that the indigenous people have been killed off and evicted than it is to concede that these people are still here and are still struggling to regain the rights and recognition to which they are entitled. It is this frame of mind that encourages New Englanders’ resistance to acknowledging a continuous presence of Northeastern Indian tribes. For many, they are no more than a romantic ideology. It is assumed that the Indians of New England were long ago wiped out or forced west. There is a general assumption across the country that there are no Native Americans on the East Coast. This recognition is an affirmation of the tribes’ sovereignty, and as sovereign nations, they have the right to institute gambling operations for the benefit of their community. By awarding the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribes $81.5 million to buy reservation land in the Maine Settlement Act, the state of Maine acknowledged these tribes as nations worthy of a reservation. It is for this reason that the tribes have been forced to enter a legal battle to open a high-stakes casino. Though both tribes are federally recognized as sovereign nations, the verdict of the Maine Settlement Act of 1980 awarded the tribes money for land purchase, but prevented these indigenous peoples from function as truly sovereign nations because of the jurisdiction the state has over their land.

For the last two years, two Indian nations in Maine, the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes, have jointly been petitioning to open a casino in the state of Maine.

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