SAN DIEGO – Beyond the raw number – an all-time revenue high of $31.5 billion produced by the nation’s 500 Indian gaming casinos in 28 states in 2016 – California economist Alan Meister focused on the economic impact gaming has had on both the tribes and the U.S economy.
As in $105.4 billion in 2016.
Meister, who produces the annual Industry Gaming Industry Report for Casino City, said during his talk at the National Indian Gaming Association conference and tradeshow that the contributions made by tribes goes beyond revenues from gambling.
In 2016, tribal gaming accounted for 676,000 jobs, $36.2 billion in wages to workers and had a fiscal impact of $12.6 million. Of that fiscal impact, 85 percent – $10.7 billion – was tax revenue. The other 15 percent went directly to the tribes.
“In addition to the positive impact on Native American tribes and their members, Indian gaming facilities continued to make substantial economic and fiscal impacts on their surrounding communities and the economy,” Meister said.
The economist spends a year compiling data from Indian casinos throughout the U.S., so the report necessarily lags by a year. Still, Meister’s findings give a nearly complete snapshot of the status of the nation’s Indian gaming market and the trends that are taking place.
In 2016, Indian gaming revenues grew in 20 of the 28 states, from a high of 18 percent in North Carolina to a decline of 7 percent in Alaska. The top two Indian gaming states – California and Oklahoma – contributed 41 percent of the nationwide total. When Florida, Washington and Arizona are added to the mix, the top five states account for 63 percent of the overall figure.
California, Meister said, continues to sway the national figures, and its market continues to grow. California’s Indian casinos produced $8.4 billion in revenue in 2016, roughly $2 billion more than the Las Vegas Strip.
The $168 million Harrah’s Northern California, a joint venture between Caesars Entertainment and the Buena Vista Rancheria Band of Me-Wuk Indians, will be the first of three new resorts coming to the area surrounding California’s capital city. It is the state’s largest single gaming expansion in a decade.
“California alone accounted for 27 percent of the overall revenue nationwide,” Meister said. “Although its growth rate of 6.3 percent was slightly lower than 7.9 percent in 2015, it was still above its pre-recession level.”
Two other Northern California casinos are in various stages of planning and development.
Hard Rock, which is owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, is partnering with the Enterprise Rancheria of Maidu Indians on a $440 million resort in Yuba City, 30 miles north of Sacramento, and Boyd Gaming Corp. has teamed with the Wilton Rancheria of Miwok Indians to build a $500 million complex in the Sacramento suburb of Elk Grove.
Meister said many of the challenges tribal gaming will face in the coming years come from within.
The industry continues to grow non-gaming amenities at its facilities – additional hotel rooms, restaurants, shopping and other features – in an effort to diversify the product. He said tribes are also looking at new types of gaming opportunities, such as sports betting, skill-based slot machines and eSports.
The other challenge includes land-into-trust issues for casino expansion. He said the Obama Administration’s Interior Department approved the most land into trust applications of any previous administration, but it’s still unclear how the Trump Administration views the issue.
The largest concerns, Meister said, stem from tribes opposing other tribes in expansion efforts.
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgamingreports.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
