In Colorado, the state Supreme Court soon will take up a case where two online payday lending companies say they are immune to prosecution and state regulations because they are incorporated by sovereign Indian nations.
This is not new. We all know about Indian casinos. The casinos work b/c people enter the Indian reservation and gamble. Can these Indian reservations do business on the Internet? The gray area is this: the borrower applies for a loan on a computer outside the reservation. Is this considered the state, the reservation or neither?
There is a very long article in the Havre Daily News. You can read the full article titled “Online Payday Loans Lending practices spark nationwide concerns.”
Comments
2 responses to “Will Indian tribes get immunity on Internet payday loans?”
The casinos work because there is a federal law allowing them to.
Good point. The Native American reservations are able to operate b/c of Supreme Court rulings. Both cases concluded that the states' gambling laws were regulatory (civil) in nature rather than criminal, because the states already allowed bingo games to take place.
There are some states where Native American casinos have been blocked, such as Maine. The states where it has been allowed I read: "cases concluded that the states' gambling laws were regulatory (civil) in nature rather than criminal, because the states already allowed bingo games to take place." I read this here:
http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/1580/Casinos-Native-American-Tribal-Casinos-HISTORY.html#ixzz0XtnVRvV3