Gambling with the Future: The Evolution of Aboriginal Gaming in Canada

Abstract

Placing it in a particular academic discipline is difficult: it is clearly an effective analysis of the history of Aboriginal gaming in North America, but also a cross disciplinary work equally at home as a cultural studies document. Gaming is a high-risk venture that may or may not stimulate other economic development, and it can lose large volumes of money if not managed as an accountable and transparent enterprise. Belanger's work articulates the challenge for these Aboriginal communities: if they follow their historical and cultural traditions and use gaming as an opportunity to invest in infrastructure and other businesses to diversify their respective economies, it may just work.