Editorial standards
TribalGaming.com holds itself to the standards of a professional trade publication. The purpose of this page is to state those standards plainly so our readers can judge whether we're meeting them, and so we can be held accountable when we don't.
Independence
TribalGaming.com is editorially independent. We are not affiliated with the National Indian Gaming Commission, the National Indian Gaming Association, the American Gaming Association, any tribal government, any tribal-gaming operator, any state gaming regulator, or any commercial gaming company. Our editorial decisions are made by our editors based on news value, not on commercial or political considerations.
Staff and contributors do not hold equity positions, compensated board seats, or consulting relationships with any tribal or commercial gaming operator we cover. If a conflict arises (for example, a family member taking a job at a covered operator), the affected reporter recuses from relevant coverage and we disclose the conflict in any adjacent piece the reader would expect.
Sourcing and verification
Every fact in a TribalGaming.com article is verified before publication. Operator names, compact details, revenue figures, court citations, and dates are cross-referenced against primary sources — tribal government publications, regulator filings (NIGC, state agencies, the SEC for public parents), court records, or statutes — not wire services. Secondary sources (industry trade press, general-audience reporting) are used only for context, never as the sole basis for a fact of record.
Quotes are attributed by name and title wherever possible. Anonymous sourcing is used only where a source's professional standing genuinely depends on it — typically in advance of a compact announcement, a management change, or a regulatory action — and is disclosed in-line with phrases like "sources familiar with" or "a tribal official who requested anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations." We do not use anonymous sourcing to amplify opinions or attack a subject.
Corrections
When we get something wrong, we correct it. Corrections are published at the bottom of the affected article with the date and a clear description of what was changed. We do not silently edit. For a minor typographical fix that doesn't affect meaning, we may correct without a note; for any error affecting meaning — a misstated name, a wrong number, a misattributed quote, a factual error — a correction note is required.
Report a suspected error to corrections@tribalgaming.com. We respond to every substantive correction request within two business days.
Use of AI in our reporting
We use AI tools for research support — searching court databases, drafting transcripts of public-meeting recordings, generating code that powers our Directory filters — but not as a substitute for reporting. No TribalGaming.com article is written end-to-end by an AI system. Every published sentence has been written, edited, or confirmed by a human. If we ever publish machine-generated content, we will label it clearly.
Coverage of tribal nations
We treat tribal nations as governments, because that is what they are. Our style guide follows the Native American Journalists Association's recommendations on the coverage of Indigenous peoples. We use tribes' preferred names (e.g., "Tsuut'ina First Nation" not "Sarcee"). We capitalize "Indigenous." We do not use Indigenous imagery or iconography as decoration unsupported by editorial context. We do not use terms ("tribe" as a metaphor, for example) that trivialize tribal identity.
We do not regard our coverage as a favor to the communities we cover. Respect is the baseline, not the accomplishment.
Commentary, opinion, and sponsored content
All TribalGaming.com articles are editorial news and analysis unless labeled otherwise. Opinion columns, when we publish them, will be labeled "Opinion" in the kicker. Sponsored content will carry a plain-language "Sponsored" label, a distinct visual treatment, and the sponsor's name. We do not accept sponsorship of editorial coverage. Sponsored content is produced separately from editorial and is not subject to our editorial standards — which is exactly why it is labeled.
Diversity in sourcing
We track, informally but deliberately, the balance of voices that appear in our reporting — tribal and non-tribal, government and industry, male and female, senior and junior. On issues affecting tribal nations, we aim to include tribal voices as a rule rather than an exception. Perfect balance is not always achievable in a given article; persistent imbalance across our coverage is a problem we would treat seriously.
Your feedback
We rely on informed readers to spot errors, challenge conclusions, and propose coverage we're missing. Email editor@tribalgaming.com any time. We read everything. We publish substantive letters-to-the-editor in the Morning Brief newsletter (with permission).