---
kind: "section"
citation: "25 U.S.C. § 2701"
title: "25"
title_heading: "Indians"
number: "2701"
heading: "Findings"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/25/2701"
units:
  - "Chapter 29 — Indian Gaming Regulation"
---

# §2701. Findings


The Congress finds that—

- (1) numerous [Indian tribes](/usc/25/2703.md?p=5) have become engaged in or have licensed gaming activities on [Indian lands](/usc/25/2703.md?p=4) as a means of generating tribal governmental revenue;
- (2) Federal courts have held that [section 81 of this title](/usc/25/81.md) requires Secretarial review of management contracts dealing with Indian gaming, but does not provide standards for approval of such contracts;
- (3) existing Federal law does not provide clear standards or regulations for the conduct of gaming on [Indian lands](/usc/25/2703.md?p=4);
- (4) a principal goal of Federal Indian policy is to promote tribal economic development, tribal self-sufficiency, and strong tribal government; and
- (5) [Indian tribes](/usc/25/2703.md?p=5) have the exclusive right to regulate gaming activity on [Indian lands](/usc/25/2703.md?p=4) if the gaming activity is not specifically prohibited by Federal law and is conducted within a State which does not, as a matter of criminal law and public policy, prohibit such gaming activity.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 100–497, § 2, Oct. 17, 1988, 102 Stat. 2467.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Short Title

Pub. L. 100–497, § 1, Oct. 17, 1988, 102 Stat. 2467, provided: “That this Act [enacting this chapter and sections 1166 to 1168 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure] may be cited as the ‘Indian Gaming Regulatory Act’.”