by Lyn Nofziger

About the author: Lyn Nofziger is a Republican strategist and adviser.

It may be time for their fellow Americans to quit feeling sorry for Native Americans.

Thanks to Congress and the national penchant for gambling, Indian tribes and bands are raking in big bucks these days in untaxed and sometimes illegal dollars.

The money largely comes from Indian-owned gaming casinos that gross between $4 billion and $5 billion tax-free annually.

At last count, there were 237 tax-free casinos run by 200 tribes and sub-tribes—some with fewer than a hundred members—on reservations in 29 states. The nation's biggest casino in terms of take is not in Las Vegas or Atlantic City; it's in Connecticut, where the Mashantucket-Pequot tribe's Fox-woods Casino rakes in more than $800 million per year. There are fewer than 500 members of the tribe.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act