Lumbees bet on recognition.

PositionEastern

The Lumbee Indians of Robeson and surrounding counties have repeatedly failed to win real federal recognition for more than a century, but this time they like their odds. For one thing, they're pitching it as a $500 million-a-year boost for a poor region. More important, though, they're defusing an issue that has cast suspicion on their efforts for more than two decades. "This has never been about gambling," tribal spokesman Alex Baker says. "So we just said, 'Look, we'll give that up and write a prohibition into the legislation.'"

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Result? Tribal Chairman Purnell Swett smells victory. "We're closer to getting this passed than we have been in years." Some say it's unlikely to pass before year-end, but a spokeswoman for Republican Sen. Richard Burr says he'll resubmit it in 2011, if necessary.

North Carolina has recognized the tribe, which claims about 55,000 members, since the late 1800s, and Congress in 1956 recognized them as Indians but refused to grant full tribal status. After passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, scores of tribes cashed in, including the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in western North Carolina, where a casino that opened in 1997 has generated more than $2.1...

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