Operator News
US – Indian Gaming sets new revenue record of US$32bn
By Phil - 27 June 2018
The 494 casinos operating as tribal casinos in the United States have set a new GGR record of US$32.4bn in the 2017 fiscal year.
Chairman Jonodev Osceola Chaudhuri, Vice Chair Kathryn Isom-Clause, and Associate Commissioner Sequoyah Simermeyer of the National Indian Gaming Commission released the Fiscal Year 2017 Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) amount, which saw an increase of 3.9 per cent over 2016.
The consistent growth of the Indian gaming industry year after year shows how well tribes run and regulate complicated operations. By staying in its regulatory lane and supporting tribes as the primary regulators, the NIGC has supported the Indian gaming industry’s entrepreneurial spirit and self-determination goals.
“All of Indian Country has worked very hard to maintain a flourishing and constantly growing gaming industry,” said the Chair of the NIGC, Jonodev O. Chaudhuri. “The successes of Indian gaming in the 30 years since IGRA prove that the foundational principles of federal Indian law should remain at the forefront of any future public policy discussions,” he said.
This was the seventh consecutive year of annual growth for tribal gaming with 33 casinos earning over $250m.
The California and Northern Nevada region known as the Sacramento region generated the most revenue with its 74 tribal casinos posting GGR of just shy of $9bn. Washington DC was the next biggest revenue earner with 37 tribal casinos based in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and New York generating $7.3bn.
As well as impressive growth in Sacramento, tribal gaming grew in the Portland region, comprising Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington whilst the Rapid City region including the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming was the only tribal region that dropped.
The FY 2017 revenues are calculated from the independently audited financial statements of 494 gaming operations, owned by 242 federally recognised Tribes.
The annual announcement of Gross Gaming Revenue numbers for Indian Country provides a yearly snapshot of the economic health of Indian gaming. As 2018 marks the 30th year of gaming under IGRA, it is an opportune time to reflect on key policy principles that have helped create the successes of a healthy Indian gaming industry.
The National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) recently passed a resolution urging Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Ryan Zinke to adhere to this Country’s solemn trust responsibility for Indian Tribes.
The Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot Tribes of Connecticut are seeking amendments to their State Compact that would allow them to open a new facility in East Windsor, Connecticut. The Tribes want the Trump Administration to exercise its legal obligations and approve amendments to their State Compacts and publish a deemed approve notice in the Federal Register so the project may move forward.
NIGA Chairman, Ernie Stevens, Jr., acknowledged that “we passed this Resolution to respectfully urge the Secretary to follow the letter of federal law—the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act—and the Department’s own regulations, which require the agency to approve the compact amendments, allow them to be approved by operation of the law. The compact amendments clearly do not violate IGRA,” Stevens added, “Our 184 member Tribes enacted this Resolution in support of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and the Mohegan Tribe and to stress the importance of this Administration and the Department of Interior to uphold its trust responsibility through IGRA and the Part 293 Compact regulations.”
Documents were recently released from an on-going Inspector General investigation demonstrating that Interior Department staff had approved the compact amendments but were overruled at the last minute by senior appointees.
Commenting to the Hartford Courant, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) stated: “The investigation gives the matter a ‘great deal of weight.’ The investigation is a significant breakthrough in the Department of the Interior’s stonewalling and possible conflict of interest,” Blumenthal told The Courant. “They failed to act in the best interest of the tribes and that is their obligation. They are blatantly breaking that obligation which is a matter of trust and law.”
