Dark Side
Commercial casinos an increasing option for tribes
By Dave Palermo
When the state of Arkansas expressed an interest in legalized casino gambling , it came as no surprise that the Quapaw and Cherokee Indian Nations of neighboring Oklahoma would finance the ballot initiative that got the industry up and going .
When MGM Resorts International built a $ 1 billion hotel casino in Springfield , Massachusetts , near the border with Connecticut , it made perfect sense for the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes to pursue a competing project in East Windsor .
And when the Poarch Band of Creek Indians sought an investment opportunity to capitalize on its casino resort and entertainment interests in Alabama , the tribe ’ s Wind Creek Hospitality invested $ 1.3 billion in Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem in Pennsylvania .
“ We ’ ve proven ourselves when it comes to gaming and hospitality ,” says Robert McGhee , vice chairman of the Poarch Band , which operates three hotel casinos in Alabama and more than a dozen non-gambling hotels in the Southeast and Caribbean Islands .
American Indian tribes are parlaying skills and experience gained through 30 years of operating tribal government casinos on Indian lands with a growing list of commercial casino ventures in the United States and overseas .
Rather than operating casinos under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act ( IGRA ) of 1988 , which exempts tribes from state taxes and allows them primacy in regulating their gambling operations , tribes are wading into the commercial gaming sector .
The move off the reservations is to be expected . With the growth of the $ 32.4 billion tribal casino industry to some 500 gambling operations in 29 states , opportunities on Indian lands have dissipated .
“ With some exceptions , the Indian gaming market is fully developed ,” says Bryan Newland , chairman of the Bay Mills Indian Community of Michigan and a former counsel with the Department of the Interior . “ There are tribes seeking to become new entrants into the gaming market . But by and large , most federally recognized tribes that want to engage in gaming are already doing it .”
Opportunity Knocks
About 250 of 370 tribes in the lower 48 states operate reservation casinos . Another 80 or so receive funds from tribal casinos or lease machines . Others are too remote or lack land upon which to build casinos .
“ Most of the opportunities in Indian Country have already been developed ,” agrees Kristi Jackson , chairman of TFA Capital Partners , an in-
The Poarch Band of Creek Indians , which operates very successful Wind Creek casinos in Alabama , bought Sands Bethlehem in Pennsylvania , the tribe ’ s first foray into commercial gaming
24 TRIBAL GOVERNMENT GAMING 2019