Fred Dakota, Native American gambling pioneer, dies at 84

Published September 18, 2021 11:18 AM

BARAGA, Mich. (AP) — Fred Dakota has died at age 84 after creating a milestone for Native American gambling by opening a garage casino in Michigan in the 1980s. A funeral home says Dakota died Monday at his home in Baraga in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Dakota was a member of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community who opened a casino with a single blackjack table in a garage in 1983. That led to construction of a larger casino, but federal courts shut it down. By 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court used a California case to ease restrictions on gambling on tribal land. A federal law followed in 1988.

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