It’s a new era for tribes’ casinos
Posted on Sunday, November 16, 2008
WEST SILOAM SPRINGS, Okla. — Just across the Arkansas state line, casinos in Oklahoma are unveiling the fruits of ambitious construction projects, each aimed at attracting clientele from Arkansas as well as their own state.
The Cherokee Nation opened a new casino a few feet west of the state line Monday. And the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma is readying a resort hotel, scheduled to open Saturday, to support its new casino an hour’s drive to the north.
Jackpot payouts of more than $ 238, 000 marked the first three days of operation for the new Cherokee Casino West Siloam Springs, according to casino records. The new building has replaced a smaller casino at the location.
Kelli Bruer, Cherokee Nation Enterprises’ public relations manager, said the casino had paid 135 jackpots — defined as winnings of more than $ 1, 200 in a single pot — to people since the new building opened. Of those jackpots, one was for $ 40, 000 and two were for $ 20, 000 each, she said.
With the new casino building finished, the Cherokee Nation can turn its attention to demolishing the old West Siloam Springs casino and beginning construction on a hotel with 140 rooms and suites that will be similar to one the tribe operates in Catoosa, Okla., near Tulsa.
Meanwhile, a competitor for the gambling and lodging dollar in northeast Oklahoma has a jump on the Cherokee Nation.
The Quapaw Tribe’s 222-room hotel in Quapaw, Okla., marks the end of the first phase of construction on the destination resort called Downstream Casino. The resort is near the spot where the borders of Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri intersect.
The $ 301 million first phase of the Quapaw resort includes a casino and an attached 12-story luxury hotel, spa and conference center. The casino and hotel employ about 1, 150 people, said Sean Harrison, the Quapaw tribe’s public relations liaison. The Quapaw’s 70, 000 squarefoot casino opened in July and is meeting revenue expectations, Harrison said. Still to come are a golf course and other trappings of a destination resort, he said.
BIGGER AND BETTER The Cherokee casino that opened Monday includes a 240-seat entertainment venue / bar, called Seven, and River Cane Cafe, a 24-hour full-service cafe. In addition, set to open this weekend were the Flint Creek Steakhouse, a 150-seat fine-dining restaurant, and River Cane, a 350-seat Las Vegas-style buffet. Cherokee Nation Enterprises broke ground Dec. 8, 2006, for the 200, 000 square-foot casino, which has 1, 200 electronic games and 22 poker and table games. It replaced a 15-year-old, 36, 000 square-foot building.
The 500 additional jobs required to run the expanded casino have almost been filled, but some remain open, Bruer said. Once filled, the staff will have more than doubled from the previous 450.
Cherokee Nation Enterprises is the retail, gambling, entertainment and hospitality sector of the Cherokee Nation. It operates casinos in Oklahoma at Catoosa, Claremore, Roland, Fort Gibson, Sallisaw and Tahlequah, in addition to West Siloam Springs.
Construction on the Cherokee West Siloam Springs hotel will start in December, Bruer said. When completed, the full construction costs for casino and hotel will be $ 125 million.
The six-story hotel will have meeting and banquet space, a food court with name-brand eateries, a bakery and a coffee shop. Several hundred more employees will be needed when the hotel opens in mid-2009, a company news release stated.
EXPECTING PROBLEMS Some people on the Arkansas side of the state line are not happy to see a larger casino in West Siloam Springs. Carl Palmer, pastor of United Methodist Church of Elm Springs and the local coordinator for United Methodists Against Gambling, said the area is already seeing the problems that large casinos can cause. Gambling is an “addiction,” one for which his church has a recovery program, Palmer said. “The ones most affected are those who can afford it the least,” he said. “We are already working with people who have been directly affected by this ‘ addiction. ’” The American Psychiatric Association, in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, uses the term “pathological gambling” to describe the clinical disorder characterized by a persistent and recurring failure to resist gambling behavior that is harmful to an individual’s well-being.
The Mayo Clinic, on its Web site, defines the problem as an impulse-control disorder.
The cost of a casino in a society can be measured in more than just cash, Palmer said. Marriages, families, houses, jobs, one’s standing in a community can all be lost to the compulsion to gamble, he said.
The National Indian Gaming Association states on its Web site that 0. 8 percent of the U. S. population is considered to have a lifetime pathological gambling problem. It said that is well below estimated rates for alcohol dependence at 13. 8 percent, drug dependence at 6. 2 percent and major depression at 6. 4 percent.
Tom Perry, a comptroller for John Brown University in Siloam Springs, the city adjacent to West Siloam Springs, cites a personal reason for concerns that have increased along with the size of the casino.
“I recognize the entertainment value of what casinos provide to those who have some measure of self-control. But I feel that commercial gambling establishments feed on lowerincome families who really can’t afford to risk their incomes,” Perry said.
He is even more concerned with what he doesn’t see — a sufficient return on the investment made by all those customers in West Siloam Springs.
“I don’t see that type of wealth dumping back into the communities where it was gathered,” Perry said. “I don’t see it in West Siloam Springs.”
But David Stewart, chief executive officer for Cherokee Nation Enterprises, said that casinos put more money back into the communities than most forms of entertainment.
“If you go to the movies, for instance, almost all of the money ends up in Hollywood. On the other hand, Cherokee Casino West Siloam Springs employs 1, 000 people who all live in this area, buy their gas and their groceries in this area, pay taxes in this area and go out to eat in this area,” Stewart wrote.
He added that the payroll and benefits for West Siloam Springs employees would total more than $ 25 million.
Rhonda McMahon, front office manager at the Best Western State Line Lodge just across the highway from the West Siloam Springs casino, said the motel has benefited from the larger crowds coming to gamble. “It has brought in tons more people already,” McMahon said. She doesn’t expect the casino’s new hotel will cut into the Best Western’s business when it opens.
JOBS AND SERVICES Casinos or other forms of gambling are legal in every state surrounding Arkansas except Tennessee. Arkansas allows some gambling. Wagering is permitted on dog racing at Southland Park in West Memphis and on thoroughbred races at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs. The state also allows gambling at the two tracks on electronic devices that mimic casino games but are dubbed “games of skill” in the law that authorizes them.
State voters approved Proposed Constitutional Amendment 3 on Nov. 4, authorizing the General Assembly to establish a lottery to finance college scholarships. Lotteries had been banned by the state constitution since 1836.
The National Indian Gaming Association states that tribal governments took in gambling revenue of more than $ 25. 7 billion in 2006. Indian casinos are not required to report profits and most do not disclose their earnings.
In comparison, the Nevada Gaming Control Board states that the total amount brought in by licensed gambling in Nevada during 2007 was $ 6. 46 billion, a 1. 73 percent increase from the previous year’s $ 6. 35 billion.
Gross gambling revenue in the United States for 2006 was $ 90. 93 billion according to the American Gaming Association Web site.
The Cherokee Nation publishes a book showing where money earned through its casino system is used each year. In 2007, more than $ 418 million was generated in the tribe’s seven Oklahoma casinos, of which $ 286. 6 million went to payroll and operating expenses. Another $ 20. 4 million was paid to the state in support of public education and jobs in the horse-racing industry. Of the profit of $ 111. 6 million, $ 33. 7 million was used within the tribe to provide scholarships, health services, educational programs, housing assistance and other community services, the tribe states. The final $ 77. 9 million was used to create jobs in Cherokee communities, the tribe states. Perry, the JBU employee, said he’s worried that the money being funneled into other areas of Oklahoma could mean losses of jobs and businesses in Arkansas and specifically in Siloam Springs. “How much is that taking away from what is already here, our restaurants and shops ? I hear a big sucking noise and I’m not sure we’re going to see it coming back to the pockets of people here,” Perry said.
To contact this reporter: sroberts@arkansasonline. com
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
