The Last Of The Pequots Opens Casino Royale
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In 1973, Elizabeth George Plouffe was the only member of the Pequot American Indian tribe still
living on the tribe's reservation near Preston, Conn. Then in 1983 the tribe got federal recognition,
followed by the opening of a bingo hall on the reservation in 1986, then a gambling casino in 1992.
- Today, the 3 million square-foot casino offers every game found in Las Vegas, is the largest in
North America and one of the most profitable in the world -- its company grossing an estimated $1
billion to $1.5 billion a year.
- Meanwhile, the Indian population of the reservation grew from the one tribal elder, Plouffe, in
1973, to about 30 members in 1983, to 550 today.
- Although now one of the largest landholders in Connecticut, with 1,238 acres, the suddenly-
enlarged "tribe" -- of whom more than half are predominantly African-American or white --
is demanding another 165 acres to expand.
- Most tribal members are less than one-eighth Pequot and the tribe has eliminated a previous one-
sixteenth "blood-quantum" requirement -- Pequot Chief Richard A. "Skip"
Hayward being only one-eighth Pequot.
But proof of only a little bit of Pequot blood can make a millionaire of a former welfare recipient --
which a number of newly-realized Pequot tribe members were.
Neighbors, whose land and quite way of life are in jeopardy, are not pleased about the challenge
and sudden reversal after 350 years.
Source: Brett D. Fromson, "The Pequot Uprising," Washington Post, June 21,
1998.
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