Introduction Tribal Nations in the United States have a unique governmental status. They are classified as sovereign nations, but in terms of jurisdictions, they closely resemble local and state government entities. In most tribal governments, you will find: Tribal courts, police departments, housing departments, planning departments, hospitals, and school systems, as well as cultural and social programs for the youth and elders. Consequently, tribal nations have significant economic and social impacts on their tribal reservations and the regions surrounding those reservations. With the passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988, Tribal governments in 29 States, have had the opportunity to increase their contribution to the people and communities surrounding their Tribal lands, with a dynamic and growing business in casino entertainment. Furthermore, as was the intent of the Federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988, Indian gaming has saved federal, state, and local taxpayers and governments from being required to fund of billions of dollars for unemployment benefits, food subsidies, health care and education programs. This can be directly quantified in one monetary calculation as Indian Gaming’s 524 properties, in 2020, directly transferred $8.5 billion to Tribal governments for program spending and investments. In 2019, Tribal casinos transferred $12.6 billion to its Tribal governments. Although, this represents a drop of over (32.5%), Tribal casinos impacted by the coronavirus throughout the year, came back strongly to continue transferring revenues to its owners.
In 2020, the Tribal gaming sector of the economy achieved $26.4 billion in gambling revenues and $3.5 billion in ancillary revenues for a total of $29.9 billion in revenues. The National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) reported $34.6 billion in gambling revenues in 2019. This represents a (23.6%) decline from the previous year, when compared to what the Dupris Consulting Group had estimated for the National Indian Gaming Association in 2020. Because Ancillary revenues are not tracked by NIGC, the Dupris Consulting Group was not able to calculate a growth percentage to what NIGC would have reported. However, the Dupris Consulting Group has estimated that the growth in ancillary revenues from 2019 to 2020 drastically fell (38.2%). 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. This report measures the impact that COVID-19 pandemic had on Tribal casino closures, employment and operating expenses by regions identified by the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) in 2020.
22 INDIAN GAMING - ANNUAL REPORT 2022
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