Mystic Lake, the Shakopee tribe's Las Vegas-style casino and hotel complex, now draws thousands of visitors a day. Unlike most Indian land, which is far from population centers, the Shakopee reservation is just a half-hour from downtown Minneapolis - an easy drive for the region's two-and-a-half million residents. But when Congress cleared the way for Indian gambling in 1988, the Shakopee Sioux found themselves in a lucrative spot - literally. Most tribe members lived in trailers on gravel roads, and subsisted with the help of government farm commodities. WHEN THE SHAKOPEE Mdwakanton Sioux tribe was established in 1969, it had just 13 charter members, a few hundred acres of land, and almost nothing else. So far the federal government has declined to intervene. The tribal government and some tribe members have spent millions of dollars in a legal dispute over membership. Not surprisingly, the issue of who is and who is not a Shakopee Sioux has taken on new significance since the money started flowing. The tribe's casino near Minneapolis is so lucrative that tribe members each receive some $700,000 a year in casino revenues. The Shakopee Mdwakanton Sioux of Minnesota are one of the smallest - and richest - American Indian tribes.
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