Spirit of Sovereignty Slot Tournament Raises $24,000 for Native Youth

2023 Spirit of Sovereignty Slot Tournament
L-R: IGT Vice President of Global Business Development Knute Knudson; IGA Chairman Ernie Stevens, Jr.; Spirit of Sovereignty Liaison David Garelick; Rymax Senior Vice President of Sales Paul Gordon; and former NBA All-Star A.C. Green.

SAN DIEGO, CA – Paul Gordon, Rymax Senior Vice President of Sales, has played in all five Spirit of Sovereignty Slot Tournaments, and this year placed first in the annual high-energy race of the reels. The tournament was held during the 2023 Indian Gaming Tradeshow and Convention in San Diego and was hosted by Indian Gaming Association (IGA) Chairman Ernie Stevens, Jr. in partnership with IGT. Contestants competed on IGT’s Cleopatra TournXtreme® slot game.

The Spirit of Sovereignty will direct the winnings of the top three finishers to tribal college scholarships and reservation-based youth programming. KISS band member Gene Simmons played on behalf of Chairman Stevens and finished in second place. Douglas Vogelei, Senior Vice President of Casino Operations at Sycuan Casino came in third. In addition, IGT made another generous donation of $10,000 in support of tribal college scholarships.

“The turnout was incredible,” said David Garelick, Spirit of Sovereignty Liaison. “Each year exceeds our expectations, and we look forward to building on the momentum at the next show. We so appreciate the generosity of our players and sponsors. We are grateful to all who participated – newcomers and multi-year supporters like Paul Gordon alike – but we need to give special thanks to Chairman Stevens and our friends at IGT, who have been so generously supportive of the Spirit of Sovereignty. We also want to thank the good folks at Clarion Events for their marketing and logistics assistance.”