Casino pays more to management firm than to First Nations

Tuesday, October 18, 2011  

A Native casino has paid more to a non-Native management company than to the seven First Nations that own it, CBC News reports.

The South Beach Casino, which opened in 2005, has paid more than $43 million to Hemisphere Gaming. In comparison, $39 million has gone to the First Nations.

"We wouldn't be getting any of that money if we didn't have this management company with us because our hands were tied. We didn't have [anyone] to turn to," Furlon Barker, the casino's board chair, told CBC News. "To me, it's worth the price."

The casino was originally intended to benefit all 63 First Nations in Manitoba. The deal was reworked to send more money to the seven First Nations that own it.

The seven First Nations have each received $2.4 million in profits from the casino. But other bands in Manitoba have only received a single payment of $13,128.

"I consider it a joke, a slap in the face," Chief John Thunder of the Buffalo Point First Nation told CBC News.

Chief Debbie Chief of the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation, where the casino is located, defended the arrangement. "What did they get before that? Zero," she told CBC News.

Get the Story:
Management fees eat up First Nation casino profits (CBC 10/17)
Not all First Nations reaping casino benefits (CBC 10/18)