"When they started, most tribes didn’t have a clue about what they were doing. Partners took advantage of them, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs did a poor job of regulating these partners," says Robert Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University Law Center in Fort Lauderdale. In a process that came to be dubbed "rent-a-tribe," casino developers partnered with a tribe, helped it build a casino and then fleeced it out of profits. Even the Seminoles claim they got a taste of this type of mismanagement. "We knew we owned 51 percent of profits, we just didn’t know what the profits were," Max Osceola, a tribal leader, says. But that changed quickly, he adds. "You only lie to us once."

Foxwoods in Connecticut, owned by the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, currently has development deals with two tribes, including one to build a resort casino for the Pauma tribe just north of San Diego. Mohegan Sun, owned by the Mohegan tribe in Connecticut, has at least two such deals with tribes on the West Coast to develop their gaming operations and take a cut of the profits. Even the Seminoles have considered doing something like this; tribes have contacted them about opening Hard Rock casino franchises on their property. "Because it’s another tribe, there’s a trust there. It’s not like trying to work with Caesars Palace, people they don’t know," Osceola says. It’s becoming clear that tribes want to work with other tribes rather than outside management companies.

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