ALBANY — New York's tribally owned casinos continued to expand during 2007, resulting in more revenue for both the state and the three Indian nations that operate gambling facilities.
In 2007, New York's Indian casinos experienced gaming revenue growth to $1.023 billion, a 7.7 percent increase over 2006's total of $949.3 million, according to "Casino City's Indian Gaming Industry Report" for 2008-09, released Tuesday.
Three Indian nations — the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, the Seneca Nation of Indians and the Oneida Indian Nation — operate eight gaming facilities in New York state. Five of these are class III, or "Las Vegas-style" casinos, which generally feature table games like poker, baccarat, blackjack, roulette and others, along with slot machines. The three class II casinos are more limited, offering video lottery terminals, which resemble slot machines.
During 2007, these eight facilities had 11,335 slot or video machines and 351 table games in play, representing increases of 4.2 percent and 8.3 percent, respectively, over 2006, the report said. Direct payments to the state by tribal governments totaled $126.1 million in 2007, including $108.3 million in "revenue sharing" payments and $17.7 million to cover regulatory costs. Revenue sharing increased 11.4 percent over 2006, while total payments rose 10.4 percent, the report said.
These payments are mandated by individual tribal-state compacts between the governments of both the St. Regis and Seneca and New York state. Revenue-sharing payments are calculated as a percentage of money taken in via slot machines. Under its compact, the Oneida Nation does not make revenue-sharing payments, though it does pay for regulatory costs.
Much of the growth in Indian gaming in New York came in the western part of the state, where the Seneca Nation opened its temporary Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino in Buffalo in July. The Seneca Allegany Casino, in Salamanca, expanded its gambling floor in late 2006 and opened a hotel in March. The Senecas also operate the Seneca Niagara Casino and Hotel in Niagara Falls.
The report also examined New York's racino industry, which continued its rapid expansion in 2007. The state's racinos enjoyed gaming revenue of $828.2 million, a 94.3 percent leap over $426.3 million in 2005. Racinos, which are basically rooms filled with video lottery terminals located at horse-racing tracks, took in $295 million in 2005.
Nationwide in 2007, 230 tribes operated 425 gaming facilities, which took in $26.5 billion in gaming revenue, a 5 percent increase over the $25.3 billion generated in 2006, according to the report.
Tribally owned gaming facilities across the country directly employed some 346,000 people with wages of approximately $12 billion in 2007, up from the 2006 totals of 343,000 jobs and $11.2 billion in wages.
Indian gaming had other benefits for the broader U.S. economy last year, with "approximately $85.8 billion in net output, 732,000 jobs, and $29.4 billion in wages to the economy," the report said. "Indian gaming also generated substantial fiscal benefits totaling $14.8 billion in 2007. It directly and indirectly generated approximately $13.5 billion in tax revenue and $1.3 billion in direct payments by tribes to federal, state, local, and non-gaming tribal governments."
The federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 mandates that tribal governments use proceeds from their gambling facilities to fund tribal programs in health care, housing, education and traditional culture, as well as to reinvest in other business ventures.
The report, in its seventh edition, was compiled by Alan P. Meister, an economist with Analysis Group, a financial consulting firm with nine offices across the U.S. and one in Canada. Details are available online at www.CasinoCityPress.com.