Tribal governments venturing into commercial gaming continue its upswing and show no signs of slowing down. The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians of California purchased the Palms and Seminole Tribe of Florida acquired the operations of the Mirage, both in in Las Vegas, while tribes have bought casinos off their reservations in other states as well.
The subject was tackled in G2E session "Indian Gaming Goes Commercial,” moderated by James Klas, founder and principal of KlasRobinson Q.E.E. It featured Erin Copeland, chief legal officer for the San Manuel of Mission Indians of Southern California, and Bobby Soper, CEO of Sun Gaming & Hospitality and former president and CEO of Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority.
"It has been a remarkable evolution through the past 36 years since the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act,” Klas said. "Early on, the relationship between commercial and Indian gaming was oftentimes adversarial and rarely cooperative and friendly. Then there were periods when tribes engaged with commercial casinos to manage and brand their facilities.”
"That worked well early on and still does in a few cases, though at other times it has faltered a little bit,” Klas said. "The relationship has improved over the years and both sides have learned to live and work with each other. There’s still competition in a number of markets, obviously here in Las Vegas, and Indian gaming is a major competitor. The thing that has changed more recently is not that commercial companies are bringing their capital, brand, and expertise to Indian Country, but Indian Country has been bringing its capital and brand and expertise to commercial gaming.”
Klas called it a fascinating trend that’s moved in the direction of more opportunities for tribes rather than less. About a dozen commercial casinos in the U.S. are owned and operated by Native Americans.
"That’s a significant amount of gaming – 17,000 machines, 1,000 tables, and over 7,000 hotel rooms and more are coming,” Klas said. "The new Hard Rock will open on the Strip, and elsewhere in the U.S., other projects are going on in commercial markets that are tribally owned. It’s not just the U.S. Projects in Canada, the Caribbean, and Asia are commercial markets owned or operated or both by Native American tribes. This is a significant trend.”
Soper said the Mohegans made a decision in the early 2000s to diversify off the reservation and focus on gaming since that was their core competency with their flagship property in Connecticut.
In January 2005, Mohegan Sun acquired the Pocono Downs Racetrack in Pennsylvania from Penn National Gaming for $280 million and ultimately expanded into Canada and South Korea with gaming facilities. It was the casino operator at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas from the time it opened in March 2021 until the tribe pulled out earlier this year.
https://cdcgaming.com/tribes-heading-into-commercial-gaming-show-no-sign-of-slowing/