The Eastern Band of the Cherokee voted to allow alcohol sales at Harrah’s Casino, but nowhere else on the reservation. One online commentator, identified as SocoLoco, told how using vice for profit and power is nothing new:

Alcohol was introduced to Cherokee people by white settlers. It was utilized as a trade good and then as an agent to demoralize native tribes so European settlers could remove them systematically from their traditional lands. The Cherokee people have struggled with this demon forever. . . . With that said, alcohol does not endanger the Indian community. It is a lack of individual conviction and character that does. Do not criticize tribal members for being willing to serve gamblers alcohol to increase profit. . . . WE WERE TAUGHT how to do this. Besides if you aren’t an enrolled member and you don’t own a beer store in Sylva, Swain, or Bryson, it doesn’t concern you.