{"id":6880,"date":"2014-01-27T16:51:47","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T16:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/2014\/01\/27\/gaming-companies-have-lucrative-deals-operating-indian-casinos\/"},"modified":"2014-01-27T16:51:47","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T16:51:47","slug":"gaming-companies-have-lucrative-deals-operating-indian-casinos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/2014\/01\/27\/gaming-companies-have-lucrative-deals-operating-indian-casinos\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaming companies have lucrative deals operating Indian casinos"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tHarrahs Rincon in San Diego CA<\/span><\/p>\n

\tBy HOWARD STUTZ
\n\tLAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
\n\tNew casino development in Las Vegas is on lockdown.<\/p>\n

\tGaming expansion into states beyond recently approved markets is virtually nonexistent.<\/p>\n

\tThose are two reasons regional casino giant and M Resort owner Penn National Gaming struck a deal with a San Diego-area Indian tribe to develop a long-stalled casino complex in Southern California.<\/p>\n

\tA third reason is simple.<\/p>\n

\tPenn National, which has 29 casinos nationwide, views the planned $360 million Hollywood Casino Jamul as an opportunity to increase its customer base in an untapped market. The development is 20 miles east of downtown San Diego, California\u2019s second-largest city and the eighth-most populous city the U.S.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWe love the location and it\u2019s a new way for us to cultivate a whole new set of customers,\u201d Penn National Chief Operating Officer Jay Snowden said of the property, which is being built in partnership with the Jamul Village Indian Tribe.<\/p>\n

\tIn addition to the 390-room M Resort, Penn\u2019s other Western casino is the Zia Park Racetrack in New Mexico.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWe\u2019re eager for any opportunities to grow the company,\u201d Snowden said.<\/p>\n

\tThe idea of the commercial casino industry striking management deals with Indian tribes isn\u2019t new.<\/p>\n

\tStation Casinos manages two Indian casinos \u2014 one each in California and Michigan \u2014 and has a deal for another Indian gaming project in central California. The company helped build and operate one of Northern California\u2019s largest Indian casinos from 2003 to 2010 when the management contract expired.<\/p>\n

\tCaesars Entertainment Corp. operates Indian casinos in California, Arizona and North Carolina.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWe\u2019re very happy with the three partnerships we have cultivated,\u201d Caesars Central Division President John Payne said. \u201cThe customers have been a great addition to our network. The facilities have developed into tourist destinations, not just pure casinos.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tPayne said customer activity at the Harrah\u2019s-branded casinos near San Diego, outside Phoenix and in northern North Carolina are recorded within the company\u2019s Total Rewards program. The locations allow Caesars to market the company\u2019s properties in destination markets, such as Las Vegas and Atlantic City.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cSome of these partnerships are decades old,\u201d Payne said. \u201cWe\u2019ve worked hard to further those relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tBIG BUSINESS<\/p>\n

\tIndian gaming is far from penny ante.<\/p>\n

\tIn 2011, Indian casinos nationwide produced $27.4 billion in gaming revenue, according to Casino City\u2019s 2013 Indian Gaming Industry Report. With 460 tribal casinos in 28 states, it takes more than a year for a California economist to compile the statistics.<\/p>\n

\tCalifornia, which had 68 tribal casinos in 2011, is the nation\u2019s largest Indian gaming market, producing more than $6.91 billion in gaming revenue in 2011 \u2014 accounting for more than 25 percent of the nation\u2019s total.<\/p>\n

\tThose figures caught the eye of the commercial casino industry.<\/p>\n

\tLas Vegas hasn\u2019t seen a resort open since 2010. Redevelopment projects, such as the SLS Las Vegas and Bill\u2019s Gamblin\u2019 Hall, will reopen shuttered facilities. Construction of the $2 billion Resorts World Las Vegas \u2014 on the former Stardust-Echelon site \u2014 is expected to begin sometime this year and take more than two years to complete.<\/p>\n

\tNationally, Massachusetts was the last all-new market to approve casinos in 2011. There has been discussion of gaming expansion into other states, but nothing has come to fruition.<\/p>\n

\tIndian gaming can be another growth market, along with riverboats and racetracks.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWe view Indian gaming in the same manner as we look at other development pipelines,\u201d Snowden said.<\/p>\n

\tJamul will be Penn\u2019s first casino for an American Indian tribe. The company has operated Casino Rama in Ontario on reservation land for the Chippewas of Rama First Nation since 1996.<\/p>\n

\tVictor Rocha, editor of Pechanga.net, said small tribes often see their project come to fruition quicker with the help of a traditional commercial casino corporation.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cA lot of tribes are more aggressive to get something done,\u201d Rocha said. \u201cAnything that\u2019s a big risk can also have big rewards.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe Jamul tribe first signed its compact with California in 1999, but the size of the casino site was reduced dramatically by changes in federal law.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt\u2019s not much more than a postage stamp,\u201d Rocha said of the 6-acre parcel.<\/p>\n

\tRocha added that partnering with a company the size of Penn, which can develop a Hollywood casino brand to fit the location, makes better financial sense for a tribe, rather than attempt the project alone.<\/p>\n

\tLas Vegas gaming attorney Jennifer Carleton of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck spent 10 years as in-house counsel for a Wisconsin Indian casino. Since moving to Las Vegas, she has found herself increasingly advising the firm\u2019s gaming clients on Indian gaming law.<\/p>\n

\tThe tribes benefit from major casino companies that have investment banking and financial connections to provide the development funds. The tribes also gain a partner with a large database of customers and the expertise to manage the casino.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThere are not as many potential developments as there were 10 years ago,\u201d Carleton said. \u201cFor the tribes, a third party can often provide access to other areas, such as the technology for social media and online capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe drawback with tribal gaming, however, is that development often takes place at a slower pace than with traditional commercial casino development. Approvals are needed from state and local governments, and federal agencies.<\/p>\n

\tA 2009 U.S. Supreme Court ruling changed the way tribes were federally recognized. The primary switch was that the federal government could no longer take land into trust from tribes that were recognized after 1934, which slowed casino development possibilities.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cNavigating the land issues can be expensive and politically charged for the tribe,\u201d Carleton said.<\/p>\n

\tNO NEW PROJECTS<\/p>\n

\tPayne said Caesars isn\u2019t actively looking for new tribal projects, but is focused on expanding and developing its current partnerships.<\/p>\n

\tHarrah\u2019s Rincon in northern San Diego County with the Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians has 662 hotel rooms and a 55,000-square-foot casino. Harrah\u2019s Ak Chin, located in southern Phoenix for Ak Chin Indian Community, has 300 hotel rooms and a 40,000-square-foot casino. Both properties have other entertainment amenities, such dining and spa facilities, that add to the destination resort complex.<\/p>\n

\tIn North Carolina, Harrah\u2019s and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians announced plans last year for a second resort that will have a 300-room hotel and 60,000 square feet of gaming space. The property will be in Murphy, N.C., 60 miles west of the original Harrah\u2019s Cherokee, which has 1,200 rooms and a 90,000-square-foot casino. The resort is considered the state\u2019s largest hotel.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWe\u2019re not pursuing any new Indian developments at this time, but that doesn\u2019t mean it won\u2019t happen,\u201d Payne said.<\/p>\n

\tStation Casinos operates the Gun Lake Casino near Grand Rapids, Mich., for the Gun Lake Tribe of Pottawatomi Indians and the $800 million Graton Resort & Casino, which opened in November near Santa Rosa, Calif., for the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria Tribe.<\/p>\n

\tStation Casinos had one of the gaming industry\u2019s first development deals with a California Indian tribe when the company opened Thunder Valley near Sacramento, Calif., for the United Auburn Tribe in 2003.<\/p>\n

\tLast year, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that allows the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians to move forward with the planned $350 million project with Station Casinos near a major state highway and Madera, Calif., about 25 miles north of Fresno.<\/p>\n

\tHowever, an opposition group \u2014 which is financially backed by two competing Indian tribes \u2014 qualified a statewide ballot referendum for California\u2019s November election that could kill the project.<\/p>\n

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Harrahs Rincon in San Diego CA By HOWARD STUTZ LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS New casino development in Las Vegas is on lockdown. Gaming expansion into states beyond recently approved markets is virtually nonexistent. Those are two reasons regional casino giant…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6880\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}