Gaming revenue growth from 2018 to 2019 was somewhat lower than we had previously estimated, although still healthy at over 2.5 percent. Lower growth was primarily due to a lack of increase for casinos in the Tulsa office region and to an actual decline for casinos in the eastern (Washington D.C.) region caused by a combination of weather impacts and increased commercial competition. Growth was much stronger for the Oklahoma City office region and for the regions west of the Rockies. Of course, growth of any kind was upended by the arrival of the pandemic early last year. As shown in the graph on the following page, there was a period of time this past spring when there were no Indian casinos open to the public anywhere in the country. By the beginning of July, nearly 82 percent of all Indian casinos had reopened to some degree. Unfortunately, the pace of reopenings slowed thereafter and several casinos that had reopened were forced to close again for two weeks or more due to new outbreaks. The outbreaks typically occurred in the surrounding communities rather than in the casinos themselves, but resulted in infections amongst casino staff that forced new temporary closures for second and even third times. At year-end in 2020, 427 of the nation’s 489 Indian casinos were open, a ratio of 87.3 percent. For casinos that had closed one or more times but were open at year-end, the average length of time closed was 84.4 days or 23 percent of the year. The median number of days closed was somewhat lower at 76.0 days. These counts do not include casinos that have remained closed throughout 2020 since their initial closures last year and have yet to reopen. For the casinos that have been able to reopen, capacity constraints remain in place virtually across the board and the methods of achieving those constraints have become more flexible and more customer friendly. Mask requirements and plexiglass between seats at tables games or between machines are being used to increase physical gaming capacity. Rather than turning off machines, the number of chairs on the gaming floor is being reduced to give the customer the ability to still gravitate toward favorite games. Many operations have reduced or even eliminated smoking areas to reduce reasons for customers to remove their masks. Even with the evolution of mitigation efforts within the casino, overall capacity and customer convenience remains reduced. Exterior access points have been reduced, in many cases to a single entrance, often with temperature and mask checks. Food and beverage service remain very limited and large entertainment or other group events have yet to be reinstated. For some facilities, capacity constraints still include temporarily preventing outside access at peak times until customer loads decrease.
∴ TRIBAL GOVERNMENT GAMING
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