Economic Impact Summary Th e following section presents a summary of the findings and conclusions from the study entitled, “Measuring the impact that COVID-19 pandemic had on Tribal casino closures, employment, and operating expenses by gaming regions in the United States,” which was conducted and authored by Dupris Consulting Group, LLC. on behalf of the National Indian Gaming Association. DIRECT AND MULTIPLIER IMPACT • In 2020, the Indian gaming industry had its first significant drop in revenue, which saw its revenues grow from $11.0B in FY00 to $34.6B in FY19, before falling off to $26.4B in FY20. The only other time the industry witnessed a drop in revenue was in FY09, when the United States economy was impacted by the Great Recession, caused by the collapse of the real estate industry. • At the start of 2020, Tribal gaming operations and ancillary facilities supported 284,646 ongoing direct jobs. As the COVID-19 virus spread and Tribal casinos started to close in March and remain closed through April, the industries casino jobs would fall (90%) to 27,790. • By December 2020, ongoing casino jobs improved significantly and were only down (26.8%) at 203,345 from the start of the year when casinos ongoing direct jobs were at 284,646. • Wages paid to employees of the Tribal gaming industry in 2020 amounted to $7,073,829,893 paid by the casino and $2,395,008,669 paid by government funded programs, such as PPP and unemployment benefits.
• The closings and reopening’s of Tribal casinos at different dates throughout 2020, impacted what was spent in operating expenses in the year. When compared to what was spent in 2019 vs 2020, operating expenses fell from $15,909,599,563 to $11,644,055,563, which represented a drop of (36.6%) • Starting on March 10th, with the closing of the Northern Cheyenne’s casino, wave after wave of casinos closed throughout the month. On March 16th, 86 casinos closed. On March 17th, 161 casinos would close. The following day, another 113 casinos would close. By March-end, 524 tribal casinos would shut down to help stop the spread of the virus. • In the current period, Tribal gaming wages and operating expenses generated significant economic activity which had an overall economic output of $54.3 billion. This represents an economic output of $18.0 billion on the reservation, where all Tribal casinos are located and an economic output of $36.3 billion off the reservation. • At the end of 2020, the overall Indian gaming industry reported a net income of $8,556,776,361. This represented a drop of (32.0%) from 2019, which reported $12,591,354,741. The significance of this number is important, because net income is transferred to the Tribe for governmental program spending and investments, helping to meet gaps in federal funding for Tribal programs. Since government spending is mostly wages and employee benefits, most of that spending stays in the regions the casinos operate in.
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