Tribal Leader Roundtable

The biggest challenge for the Tribes and the gaming industry as a whole is by far the lack of staffing in various departments throughout the casino.

This crisis has impacted our tribe considerably. About 140 of our members are elders, and many of them rely on the income generated from our gaming enterprise.

Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19 and its aftermath, our tribe and casino continue to be successful in addressing the needs and desires of our customer base on a day-to-day basis. As a result, we have been able to navigate the first four months of 2021 successfully.

Doreen Blaker, PresidentKeweenaw Bay Indian CommunityOjibwa Casino Marquette – Marquette, MI; Ojibwa Casino Baraga – Baraga, MIojibwacasino.com / kbic-nsn.gov

Anthony Roberts, ChairmanYocha Dehe Wintun NationCache Creek Casino Resort – Brooks, CAcachecreek.com / yochadehe.gov BENEFITS OF GAMING: Tribal gaming has...

Our tribe is a close-knit community and we have all known someone or we ourselves have been affected by COVID-19. It takes a mental toll on our tribal members as we face this health crisis, but I feel we have come together to care for each other and keep our spirits strong during this time.

Fortunately, we have a very experienced team that were involved in the development of our four casinos as well as several expansion projects along the way. That experience coupled with the new experience gained in managing a construction project during the pandemic, will continue to inform our operations going forward.

We are located in California and are still trying to go through the compacting process for our gaming facility. It's been a lengthy process with the state.

The Jena Band of Choctaw Indians’ primary revenue generators are the two Class II facilities that the tribe owns and operates through the Jena Choctaw Indian Gaming Authority.

COVID-19 has impacted us financially, socially, physically, and emotionally. We have had the challenge of paying bills and taking care of our tribal members as well as employees, when no revenue was coming in due to business closures.