The Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma is facing a "financial crisis" due to dwindling gaming revenues, The Oklahoman reported.
Business at the Thunderbird Wild Wild West Casino has dropped by nearly half in the past year. The reason? The Chickasaw Nation and the Citizen Potawatomi Nation have opened much larger casinos nearby. The competition has left the tribe struggling to make per capita payments. "The tribe is facing a financial crisis right now,” Cindy Carpenter, a member of the tribal executive committee, wrote in the tribe's August newsletter [PDF]. Get the Story: