"Tess Vigeland: Foxwoods Casino was long one of the biggest in the northeast U.S. But the Connecticut resort has been down on its luck in recent years. Yesterday, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation decided to restructure its debt because it took a card on 16. The National Indian Gaming Association says the tribes that own casinos ring up $26 billion in gross profits each year. But a growing number aren't betting on the black jack tables or slot machines to fill their coffers indefinitely. Brian Bull reports from Wisconsin Public Radio.

BRIAN BULL: The Lucky Eagle Casino is a 90 minute drive south of Seattle. It's run by the Chehalis Tribe. And tribal chairman David Burnett says gambling's been good to his people. It rings up nearly $15 million annually, for health care, education, and roads.

DAVID Burnett: As recently as 1999, the tribe was functionally bankrupt. We're in a much better position today than we have been in a long, long, time.

But the Chehalis didn't want to bank on gambling forever. Last year, they decided to diversify their portfolio, with what you could say were more liquid assets.

Five minutes drive away -- at the Great Wolf Resort -- tourists ride rolling waves at a sprawling water park. The resort cost $100 million to build. Burnett recalls the grand opening of the water park last spring.

Burnett: I got to be one of the first to go down the big waterslide. And it was a little humbling when I had some 16-year-old in a lifeguard suit tell me that if I didn't stop horsing around he'd kick me out of the park.

Burnett says some tribal members were skeptical, but over the last year the resort has kept afloat just fine."

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Tribes build business beyond casinos (American Public Media 8/27)