Nearly 2,000 people work across the state as casino dealers
Indian Country Today
Meredith Good Voice was a card dealer for about a dozen years. She no longer works at a casino but she is worried about her former colleagues.
"Dealers make less than minimum wage and depend on tips to support their families," Good Voice said. "To work any other job, and have to rely on a paycheck every two weeks is worrisome."
A lot of Oklahomans worry that the dispute between the governor of Oklahoma and the tribes could put these jobs at risk.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor and Statistics, about 1,900 Oklahomans earn their living as Class III gaming dealers. Oklahoma’s gaming tribes recently sued the state to enforce existing gaming compacts. Gov. Kevin Stitt maintains that the compacts expired January 1.
Under the current compacts, tribes are expected to pay the state an exclusivity fee, ranging from four to 10 percent. Those fees are due January 20.
There are more than 130 casinos in Oklahoma after voters approved a gambling expansion in 2004.
Good Voice, Muscogee (Creek) Nation, worked for 13 years at the Hard Rock Casino, located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. For 11 years of that time, she worked as a dealer. The Cherokee Nation owns the Hard Rock Casino.
"All the table games, including craps and roulette, are considered class III gaming," Good Voice said.
She said that the process of becoming a dealer requires a significant investment in time and training as a career. "There's a lot of training we've gone through to learn each game," Good Voice said. "It would be a drastic change to work any other job besides dealing."
The Muscogee (Creek) Nation's accredited College of the Muscogee Nation even offers a Gaming Associates of Applied Science.
Good Voice said that apart from the training and duties, table games dealers would have a hard time adjusting to the financial aspects that come with changing jobs should anything happen to Class III gaming in Oklahoma.
The Economic Impact of TribesThe tribes in Oklahoma provide nearly $13 billion in economic impact plus additional dollars toward education, health care and infrastructure. As former Gov. Brad Henry notes, "this is an industry that we can ill-afford to lose."
Posted by United For Oklahoma on Monday, January 13, 2020
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