Some citizens of the
Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community are upset that their gaming per capita payments haven't kept up with the times.
Tribal citizens authorized per caps in 2000, The Arizona Republic reported. Between 2002 and 2007, the payments ran about $15,000 a year, the paper said.
"We used to make it from per-capita to per-capita," Martin Chiago told the paper of the quarterly payments.
But the national economic recession in 2008 apparently affected the gaming enterprise on the reservation. Between 2008 and 2010, the tribe subsidized the per caps in order to keep them going, the paper reported.
The opening of a new
Talking Stick Resort and Casino in 2010 was supposed to help alleviate the pain, some tribal citizens told the paper. But nearly a decade later, they say the per caps haven't increased as promised by their leadership.
"Other tribes that have gaming, they reveal and actually go over periodically with their Community members — their constituents — the different financial numbers and the ups and downs of the gaming industry," Leonard Rivers, a former council member, told the paper. "We don't do it here ... It's very secretive, and they hold things very tight."
According to The Republic's estimates, the per caps are $3,000 less than they were before the new Talking Stick opened. After accounting for inflation, the payments were about 32 percent less, the paper said.
Read More on the Story
Salt River members were sold a new Talking Stick Resort with the promise of big profits. 10 years later, they have yet to arrive
(The Arizona Republic August 8, 2019)
Join the Conversation
Related Stories
Salt
River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community reopens casino after storm (September
27, 2018)
Salt
River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community working to reopen casino (September 17,
2018)
