Tribal Leader Roundtable

When the current coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. and the federal, state, and local governments began to shut down, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe passed a Resolution enacting a public health emergency, creating the Southern Ute Indian Tribe’s Incident Management Team (IMT).

The challenges have been to work closely with local and state officials to be consistent with COVID-19 safety requirements. The opportunities are largely in the area of increased guest services, food and hotel accommodations, and slot and table options.

Much like the majority of businesses in the hospitality industry, macroeconomic conditions will be playing a significant factor in operations this year.

Since we opened our casino in 2019, we have been able to provide over $3.5 million to non-profits and organizations in Butte, Yuba and Sutter counties.

I am immensely proud to share that the Karuk Tribe is continuing to make major strides towards our long-term economic and cultural resilience. Recently, we celebrated a major victory with the passing of California’s new cultural burn law (SB 310).

Cultural preservation, growing and revitalizing our language, our museum, and library all exist because of gaming revenue. Critical community services such as the Quapaw Nation Marshal Service, Fire/EMS, Quapaw Nation Courts, and Emergency Services are almost completely funded by gaming revenue.

The impact from the pandemic has been felt far and wide, and our nation will be in recovery for months if not years to come. In March, we closed our tribal government and Foxwoods Resort Casino for the first time ever since opening over 28 years ago.

Self-sufficiency isn’t just about tribal government. It’s about the people. Strengthening the people has to be the priority in your businesses and your government.

Our tribe promotes leadership from the foundational level to the top. Leadership starts with our general membership, goes up through tribal council, executive teams, management support teams, and other committees.

This month, four tribal leaders share how gaming revenues benefit their tribes and communities, goals and initiatives for their gaming operations and legislative/political matters...