Robert Jumper: Eastern Cherokees must grow beyond gaming

In order to continue the growth that Cherokee has enjoyed, we cannot continue to depend on one industry to supply the revenue necessary to sustain economic development. Great things have been accomplished with the funds we have generated though casino revenue, levy collection and grants. Community buildings, hospital construction, tribal housing and many other needed municipal projects have grown from the income from the tribe’s efforts in gaming. And, our tribal programs do an excellent job of identifying research and development funding, but grants will not sustain the tribe as those have done in decades past. We have grown in size and need beyond the resources that may supplied by grants.

But, speaking from an economic development standpoint, we are a “one-pony show” (others might say “we have our eggs in one basket”). While it is an awesome generator of jobs and cash, our gaming operation is vulnerable to poaching. We have enjoyed a long of run of monopolizing the gaming tourist.

But, threats to that monopoly have been appearing with alarming regularity. Regular media reports indicate a continued and growing effort to establish an adult gaming footprint to our east in North Carolina and in states that surround us to our west. The tribe has already successfully defended a first wave of small, independent video game operations in North Carolina. The reach of those video game “bars” was significant enough to show an impact to tribal gaming revenue, and that is just one battlefront.