Just a few questions and clarifications...
swdrumcp said:
The casino helps the communitee in a great deal. The funding goes to the betterment of our people.
As a member of the Cherokee Tribe, do you receive an individual per cap payment or do all gaming revenues get re-invested into the government to fund services? I ask because there are instances where the individual per cap payments may in fact do more harm than good. Depending on the population, some individuals may take these payments as income in lieu of actually working. Not that I'm judging anyone, but from a certain perspective, more members of a community that actually work and contribute may in fact make that community stronger.
Whoever stated that tribes casinos are exempt from taxes, local laws, minumum wage etc need to grow up.
Why the attitude?
The casino pays double the wages that any member in this area saw before.
But not all tribes do this. Some tribes look at comparable wages and offer similar, though somewhat higher, wages to be competitive. Offering twice the wage for food and beverage employees than one would make waiting tables makes no sense for the bottom line. Offering 10% above the typical waitstaff wage makes more sense and contributes to the bottom line. Offering medical and 401(k) benefits also makes working for the tribe a good deal.
Casinos can ONLY be built... on tribally owned land and only with negotion of the state.
Not always. There is an Indian tribe in Michigan that opened a casino during the calm of the night back in the mid 1990s. It was located on the property where the out-county service office was located. The land was not an official part of the reservation, where an existing casino was already in operation. In fact, this land was seperated by 45 miles of road from the casino on the reservation. The State sued the tribe. The tribe successfully defended its right to operate its gaming operation on non-reservation lands. All the while, during the three years of litigation, the tribe successfully operated this casino and actually put an addition on the building to double the gaming space. There was no compact with state for this particular gaming operation. They now have one, but during this three-year period, the state successfully negotiated more compacts with other tribes, two which opened gaming operations within a 50-mile radius of this particular casino. Rumor was that the state was so irritated at this particular tribe that they went ahead and approved the other gaming compacts.
One point that is VERY important is that the company that runs the gaming establishement gets a majority of the money. Harrahs runs our casino and gets 50% of profits.
Some tribal gaming operations are run by the tribes themselves. My former employer was like that and they did a great job at managing the crew and the whole gaming operation. When I was in surveillance, there were some bone-headed decisions made by mangement, however, on the whole, the EDC of my former employer did a wonderful job at making the worksite feel like home.
As far as effect, they are tremendous job providers...
Yes, this is good for economically depressed areas. No question about that. However, are they
quality jobs that encourage people to settle down and invest in their community? I once dealt table games at a tribal casino. I can tell you, it is a racket. Exciting and fun at times, but mostly depressing with very little job satisfaction. There is a high turn-over rate. I'd make friends, and within six months, I wondered where half my co-workers were. Tell me, where in the casino are the jobs with the highest level of job satisfaction and job retention? Further, what about unions? I know this is a politically charged topic, but in some circles, perhaps one of the best ways to retain your best gaming employees is through the power of a union. Are there any tribal gaming operations that have unions? My guess is there aren't any.