Maryland Native Americans say the decision to list COVID-19 cases in tribal communities as 'other' in state data shows their loved ones may as well be invisible when it comes to tracking virus impact on tribal communities within city limits. (April 27) AP Domestic

As the countrys economy slowly opens back upwhile COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise, tribal gaming finds itself caught in a bind: restoring an economic pillar many tribal nations rely on or shutting down operations and losing out on that funding.

Making the choice more vexing is the knowledge that the pandemic has had adisproportionate impacton Native Americans and that casinos can serve as super-spreaders of COVID-19. Ultimately, federally recognized tribes are sovereign nations, meaning its their decision to make on whether to open or close their doors.

One of those that struggled with this choice was the Coeur dAlene Tribe, located in western Idaho near the border with Washington. Heather Keenthe director of strategic development for Marimn Health, a health care and wellness center run by the tribesaid the tribe made the decision to reopen when no COVID-19 cases arose between the time the casino closed on March 20 and when it reopened on May 1.

Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, Calif.(Photo: Ron Holman)

Revenues from the casino provide funding for critical services on the reservation such as law enforcement, social services, public works, public infrastructure and essential tribal government operations, said Keen. To leave the casino closed for any longer than absolutely necessary would ultimately jeopardize the long-term health and safety of our community even more than the spread of COVID-19.

Casinos can serve as super-spreaders of COVID-19, theLas Vegasexample shows. Amandine Gamble, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, and co-author of astudyof the persistence of the virus on different surface types, said this is due to the indoor environment; sharing touching of objects like tokens, cards and slot machines; and the fact that employees interact with myriad people daily.

Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, Calif.(Photo: Ron Holman)

Gambles concerns have repeatedly materialized.

In June in Arizona, an employee of the Gila River Casino Lone Butte owned by the Gila River Indian Communitydied of the coronavirus.

At the Coyote Valley Casino in Northern California, management did not initially disclose that one of its employees had contracted the virus, leading employees to speak out on social media.

At the Thunder Valley Casino Resort just north of Sacramento, employees told an ABC affiliate that proper social distancing protocols and safety measures werenot being followed, something casino management denied.

And a reporter from the publication TheSouth Florida Sun-Sentineldocumented similar behavior of the young and the reckless patrons at the Seminole Tribe-owned Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Fla., in a July 25 article.

A tribal casino in North Carolina also hadfive positive COVID-19 cases, while an Oklahoma tribal casino also had an employeetest positivefor the virus.

This dual public health and economic crisis has driven Native American leaders to ponder diversifying tribal economies and their call for a boost in federal support. In short, it is not just a calculation of public health versus economic well-being. Its also a question of what the future holds.

Just as the federal government has a sacred responsibility to American Indians and Alaska Natives, so too do our tribal governments, Gary Davis, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and executive director of theNative American Financial Services Associationwrote in anAprilUSA Todayop-ed. It is our leaders responsibility to develop a modern, diversified portfolio of business that insulates our tribal economies from future risks like pandemics.

Davis concluded that gaming is not a magic pill for tribal economic development.

The history of modern tribal casinos began with the signing of the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, allowing sovereign tribal nations to enter into compacts with states to create gaming revenue. And due to a long history of federal underinvestment in Indian Country, casino-centric economies became a staple of tribal nations.

Tribal casinos grew out of, quite frankly, desperation of tribal leaders trying to figure out how they could effectively build a tribal community economy, saidKathryn Rand, co-director of theInstitute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law and Policyand former dean of the University of North Dakota School of Law. So, in the 1970s and 1980s, tribes started experimenting with high-stakes bingo. It had a low startup cost and people loved it.

Today loss of these revenue streams is already having a devastating impact on tribal life. TheWisconsin State Journalreported that 241 federally recognized tribes could lose$22.4 billion in revenuefrom closed casinos this year.

In 2019, tribes created$35 billionin casino-based revenue.

So, casinos are central to tribal economic planning, but it comes with a catch: only a handful of them truly sustain those economies. They tend to be close to urban centers, with more customers and a more regular customer base. As of 2018,according to the National Indian Gaming Commission, 19% of tribal casinos accounted for 75 percent of Indian gaming revenue.

For those tribal casinos closer to urban cores, gaming creates a big nexus for generating jobs and business partnerships extending beyond the tribes, saidSteven Light, the co-director with Rand at the Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law and Policy.

An example of that nexus can be found in San Diego County, home of10 tribal casinos.

The casinos were the first to reopen statewide in May, despite initialoppositionfrom Gov. Gavin Newsom. Non-tribal casinos are still ordered closed, which hasirkedthe states gaming trade association.

But a rural counter-example is the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which hada $4 millionbudgetary shortfall, as of June 25, mainly due to lost casino revenue during the time period for which its casinos were closed between March 24 andMay 15.

In better economic times, those funds would normally go to essential services like cancer treatment, veterans cemetery maintenance, child services, elder care and more, said Standing Rock Sioux council member Avis Little Eagle.

The tribereceived $21 millionunder the CARES Act and $6 million of it will be spent on emergency food, water and propane deliveries, as well as medical emergency response and strike teams.

But federal dollars do not fill the void of the casino being closed for nearly two months.

Those tribes are still dealing in those rural areas, in all likelihood, with high levels of poverty, high levels of unemployment, said Light. And the tribal casino is an important source of jobs and an important source of government revenue, but not enough to make it so that the tribe now has a surplus of money to spend.

The Standing Rock reservation had a poverty rate of 43.2% and unemployment rate of 79% as of 2018,before COVID-19. At large, Native Americans had apoverty rate of over 25%, over twice thenational rateduring the same time. This dire reality has forced the tribal governments hand in keeping its casinos open, despite public health concerns.

Little Eagle, who has served on the tribal council since 2011, knows this precarious situation well.

Also the publisher of theTeton Times,an independent Native American newspaper, Little Eagle had initiallyspoken in oppositionto reopening the tribes two casinos. She was not alone in those concerns.

On May 29, theStanding Rock Elders Preservation Counciland two other plaintiffs broughta civil lawsuitagainst the two casinos and the tribes governmental leadership. The complaint argues that re-opening the casinos will bring irreparable and immeasurable harm and death to tribal members.

As of Aug. 21, the tribe reports 169 positive cases and four deathson the reservation with just over 8,200 enrolled members. None of those cases have been traced back to the casino, however. Little Eagle praised thepartnership forgedbetween the tribe and state government to do mass COVID-19 testing and thesafety precautionstaken by the tribes casinos in keeping case numbers low.

In hindsight now, when I see that nobody caught it because workers are bringing it home, that was my biggest fear, she said. Were still watching it, but everything is working out. Now theyve got the guidelines and the protocols. If something happens, they know exactly what theyre going to do.

While Standing Rock has kept its casinos open, the Navajo Nation has kept its four casinos closed since March 17. Located in the Four Corners area, with land in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, the reservation has more than 173,000 residents. In June, the Navajo Nation had one of the highest per capita COVID-19 infection rates in the United States and more deaths than15 different states.Casenumbers are now in declineafter months of an imposed andrecently liftedstay at home order.

Brian Parrish,Navajo Nation Gaming Enterpriseinterim CEO, said the tribe has made efforts to diversify its economy. That includesmaintainingits own electricity utility, funds from oil and gas extraction, and agricultural production.

The nation alsoreceived$714.1 millionunder the CARES Act, or 8.9% of the entire laws budget allotted to tribal nations. Still, casino revenue makes up 70% of the Navajo Nations purse, according to Parrish.

So, with its casinos still shuttered nearly a half-year into the pandemic, the tribelaid off 1,180 casino workersin late July, ending itspaid leave policy. The casinos, among the first of the tribal nations to close on March 17, will remain closeduntil at least Aug. 31.

On Aug. 17, after pleas from the tribes gaming unit, the Navajo Nation Council voted to authorize$24.6 millionin emergency funding to put the casinos workforces back on paid leave.

Navajo Nation has a38% poverty rate, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.

Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise isnt the only major constellation of casinos that has undergone major layoffs.

On July 17, the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino in Milwaukee owned by the Forest County Potawatomi Community announced1,600 furloughed employees. And on Aug. 17, the Seneca Gaming Corporation announced150 layoffsat its three casino properties in New York.

The current crisis is forcing a broader reckoning among Native American leaders about a need to hold the federal government accountable for treaty obligations.

Although tribes economic development efforts are designed to foster nation-building and self-determination in the advancement of tribal sovereignty, our businesses are meant to complement not supplant the funds owed to us by our treaties and compacts with the federal government, Davis of the Native American Financial Services Association wrote in hisUSA Todayop-ed.

A recentsurveydistributed by the Seattle Entertainment Group, a Native American-owned entertainment company, concluded that 97% of tribal casino owners felt the $8 billion in federal dollars allocated to tribes under the CARES Act was not enough.

Only 3% of casino owners felt they could resume business as usual by the end of 2020.

To that end, former U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.) and Ernie Stevens, Jr., chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association, are advocating for at least $25 billion to go to tribes in a next COVID-19 stimulus package.

The American economy is in dangerous territory, with a 33% drop in the GDP during the second quarter,they wrotein an Aug. 25 op-ed published inIndian Country Today.Indian nations face catastrophic economic losses, and without additional support, many tribal businesses will never recover.

Until or if that happens, though, the Navajo Nation has made the tough call of staying closed for public health purposes.

We do not want to lose our team membersit goes against everything we stand for. Our mission is to enhance the quality of life of the Navajo people through a successful gaming economy, Parrish said in an Aug. 17 press release. We have been challenged with this pandemic, but remain hopeful that we will reopen soon and re-stabilize our Navajo Gaming family.

Capital & Mainis an award-winning California-based publication that reports on economic, political and social issues.

Tachi Casino Lands, Kings County, 2014. (Photo: Jesse Amble White)

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