{"id":14962,"date":"2021-08-17T20:54:32","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T00:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=14962"},"modified":"2024-09-17T10:30:33","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T14:30:33","slug":"indian-gaming-industry-sees-unprecedented-drop-in-revenues-due-to-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/08\/17\/indian-gaming-industry-sees-unprecedented-drop-in-revenues-due-to-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian gaming industry sees unprecedented drop in revenues due to COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\n\t\t\tNIGC Fiscal Year 2020 GGR Announcement Video\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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NIGC Fiscal Year 2020 GGR Announcement Video<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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National Indian Gaming Commission: NIGC Fiscal Year 2020 GGR Announcement Video<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n
Indian gaming industry sees unprecedented drop in revenues due to COVID-19<\/div>\r\n
Tuesday, August 17, 2021<\/div>\r\n
By Acee Agoyo<\/div>\r\n
Indianz.Com<\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nTribal casino revenues took a major hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic<\/a>, according to figures released by the National Indian Gaming Commission<\/a>.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nTribal gaming facilities took in $27.8 billion in gross gaming revenues fiscal year 2020, the independent federal agency announced<\/a> on Tuesday. That represented an unprecedented decline of 19.5 percent, returning the industry to days not seen in almost two decades.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cThis fiscal year 2020 report indicates Indian gaming revenues — like other parts of the national economy — have suffered because of the COVID pandemic,\u201d NIGC Chairman E. Sequoyah Simermeyer said in a video announcement<\/a>. \r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cThe industry has not seen this significant decrease in nearly 20 years,\u201d added Simermeyer, a citizen of the Coharie Tribe who is a Trump-era political appointee<\/a> to the NIGC.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n \"National<\/a>

According to the National Indian Gaming Commission, tribal gross gaming revenues in fiscal year 2020 reverted to the level seen in fiscal year 2012. Image: NIGC<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nEvery region of Indian Country has been impacted economically by the coronavirus, which itself has taken a disproportionate toll on the health and well being of American Indians and Alaska Natives. At one point, every tribe in the nation shut down their casinos amid the onset of the pandemic in the spring of 2020.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe results of the widespread closures are seen in the figures released by the NIGC. Double-digit declines in gaming revenues occurred in every region of the country — ranging from a massive 36 percent drop in the Great Plains to a more modest yet significant loss of 13.2 percent in the area that includes California, the largest Indian gaming market in the United States.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cUnfortunately due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all eight administrative regions reported a decrease in their gross gaming revenues,\u201d said NIGC Vice Chair Jeannie Hovland, a citizen of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe who is another Trump-era appointee<\/a> to the agency.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n \"National<\/a>

Gross gaming revenues in fiscal year 2020 fell by double-digit percentages in all regions of Indian Country, according to the National Indian Gaming Commission. Image: NIGC<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nDespite the dramatic declines, the NIGC sought to put a positive spin on the situation. Simermeyer, who in a news release<\/a> described the latest revenue figures as a \u201ctemporary setback for Indian gaming,\u201d noted that 95 percent of tribal casinos have since reopened.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nStill, the announcement comes at an ominous time for Indian Country’s handling of the pandemic. Data from the Indian Health Service<\/a> has shown an explosion in new COVID-19 cases, with most of the increases attributed to the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe region with the highest rate of new COVID-cases<\/a> is in fact the same place where the NIGC made its public announcement about the revenues. Both Simermeyer and Hovland took part in an in-person conference being hosted by the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association<\/a> this week.\r\n

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