MYRTLE BEACH, SC / ACCESSWIRE / October 31, 2016 / The celebrated casino development company founded by television personality, author, and former Donald Trump vice president Gary Green, has entered into an agreement with a South Carolina Native American Indian Tribe to fund and assist the Tribe through their tumultuous struggle for sovereign recognition.
“The Waccamaw Indian People are already recognized by the State of South Carolina, so the trail to Federal recognition is the next logical step,” explained Gary Green Gaming CEO Buddy Levy, who was the attorney for multiple companies that financed, built, and operated casinos on behalf of Tribes (including the Seminole Tribe of Florida as far back as 1979).
For the Waccamaw people, there are two levels of recognition: Federal and State. Federal recognition acknowledges tribal governments at the same level as state governments with their rights to tax, make and enforce laws, and regulate activities. State recognition acknowledges tribal governments as equal to county governments.
Though Waccamaw Indian People were first recognized on census rolls in 1820, Tribal members were denied US citizenship until 1924, and their traditional Indian graveyards were not protected until 1987.
“Gary Green has known Chief Harold Hatcher for a number of years and the two men have often discussed sovereignty and Federal recognition for the Tribe. Though the US Department of Interior declared the Tribe extinct, anthropologist from the University of South Carolina disproved that erroneous assertion,” Levy explained.
“In 2005, the State of South Carolina officially recognized the Waccamaw Indian People; and on October 20 of this year, we met with Chief Hatcher and some of his council members to work out details for our funding and leading the steps to that Federal status,” Gary Green added.
ABOUT THE PRINCIPALS:
THE WACCAMAW INDIAN PEOPLE are ancient river dwellers who lived along the Waccamaw River covering an area that reached from North Carolina’s Lake Waccamaw to Winyah Bay near Georgetown, South Carolina, including the area now known as Myrtle Beach (one of the top 10 tourist destinations in the USA). Today the Tribe is located near Aynor South Carolina and has continually maintained a Tribal community from historical times. Chief Harold D. Hatcher has worked for decades addressing issues that separated Indian people from those of the general populace and from each other. In 1994, working with President Bill Clinton and the White House staff, he was able to achieve several concessions from the United States government, which brought a more nearly level playing field to Native Americans across the country. Today, Chief Hatcher works to retain his peoples’ history, arts, and crafts, and to regain the heritage of their ancestors.
GARY GREEN GAMING INC, formerly known as The Gaming Group, is a Florida-based private equity fund holding company focusing on gaming, tourist destinations, and entertainment.
GARY GREEN is one of the most written-about figures in modern casino gaming circles. He is the host of the upcoming television series “Casino
Rescue” and author of the 2016 book “Osceola’s
Revenge ― The Phenomena of Indian Gaming”. A former vice president of
Trump Hotels and Casinos, he also is the author of the best-selling book “Gambling
Man” (soon to be a major motion picture), as well as “Marketing Donald Trump” and several other books.
A longtime advocate of Native American sovereignty and a former resident of Myrtle Beach, in the 1990’s he co-owned “Murrells Inlet and South Strand Magazine” and the former “EuroCircus” at Waccamaw Pottery in the 1990’s. He also was the co-author of the 1996 book “An Insider’s Guide To Myrtle
Beach.”
One of the casino world’s most knowledgeable executives, he has spent more than 35 years in the casino / entertainment industry in roles from marketing to CEO. He is currently on the Boards of Directors of publicly-traded Atlantis Internet Group, on the board of the Las Vegas based Association
of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM), and of privately held iTarget Inc.
BUDDY LEVY is truly one of the founding fathers of Indian Tribal gaming. He negotiated and held for 20 years the first Indian gaming management and was one of the guiding forces in bring the landmark 1981 court case that created Indian casinos in America.
Today he is widely recognized as the leading expert in slot machine regulatory requirements in Indian Gaming.
A graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, Buddy has been practicing law since 1974 and is licensed in the States of Florida and Texas. He is a General Member of the International Masters of Gaming Law whose members include internationally selected attorneys specializing in a gaming practice, regulators and other persons engaged in gaming at a high level. For most of Buddy’s career his practice has concentrated on both transactional and gaming matters and for more than half that time he has served in the position of General Counsel for different companies.
Buddy has been involved in both the legal and operational side of Native American Gaming since 1979. Today, he combines a transactional legal practice, including a General Counsel position, with that of his private gaming practice representing primarily foreign entities desiring entry into the United States gambling market through Tribally-Owned Casinos.
An expert in navigating the regulatory requirements of Indian Gaming he is widely recognized as a master of the detailed and constantly changing licensing procedures, and expert in knowing the complex list of persons to know and work with in the details and customs of dealing with Native American Tribes and Tribally-Owned Casinos.
Contact:
Gary Green
702.527.8247
gary@garygreen.com
SOURCE: Gary Green Gaming, Inc.
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