Five tribal leaders discuss their current priorities, how innovation is shaping their gaming and hospitality strategies, and how they cultivate leadership to support long-term stability and growth.
Regina Cuellar, Chairwoman
Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians
Red Hawk Resort & Casino – Placerville, CA
redhawkcasino.com / shinglespringsrancheria.com
PRIORITIES: Our tribe’s top priorities are housing and economic diversification. These two goals allow us to foster growth and stability for our membership and for the next seven generations that come after us, ensuring the longevity and health of our people. Our gaming enterprise supports us in all that we do, but it cannot be the only source of revenue we rely on. Right now, the revenue stream from the casino allows us to continue building up our government operations that provide direct services to our membership, revitalize our culture so that we can continue our traditions, and allows us to make continuous investments into our future growth outside of gaming so that we can become more self-sufficient. We would not be as successful in achieving these goals without the support of our gaming enterprise.
INNOVATION: We are always looking into the latest and greatest gaming, entertainment, and hospitality technology. By attending both tribal and gaming industry conferences and showcases, we are able to gather inspiration and learn from the success of other tribes by seeing what works for them and how that could fit for our demographic and unique area. Recently, we have expanded our casino amenity offerings to better reach every member of the family, making our establishment a family-friendly place where there is something for everybody. This has allowed us to truly offer a resort experience and not just be a solely gaming facility, bringing in a whole new demographic of patrons to our property.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT: Our tribe invests 100% into the higher education of our membership. For any member that desires one, we ensure they get it. We concurrently create opportunities for our members through our internship program where our youth can get introduced into tribal government to learn and experience a wide range of different departments from an early age. This exposure can then lead to a passion or interest in higher education with the hope of that member bringing back the knowledge they gain to become a future tribal leader. When they are ready to return, the tribe invests in the employment of the member by finding a position for them where they can employ the skills they learned and be successful. This cycle ensures that our tribe has fully developed leaders from an early age that are ready to contribute to the tribe’s operation for long-term stability and growth for any that want it.
David Hill, Principal Chief
Muscogee (Creek) Nation
Coweta Casino Hotel; Creek Nation Casinos – Holdenville, Bristow, Checotah; Duck Creek Casino; Muscogee Creek Nation Casino; Okemah Casino; One Fire Casino; River Spirit Casino Resort – OK
creeknationcasinos.com / muscogeenation.com
PRIORITIES: Our top priorities at the Muscogee Nation are aggressive expansion projects in economic development, healthcare access and public service delivery. Our Muscogee Nation Gaming Enterprises team have supported these goals by aligning their vision with ours to pursue growth opportunities in entertainment desert areas that are experiencing population increase. In the last year, we’ve opened two new casino hotel resorts in the Lake Eufaula area and the rapidly expanding community of Coweta. These facilities are not only providing jobs and opportunity; they’re changing the future economic landscape of these regions. Our numbers so far in the early stages indicate that our projections for great success in these endeavors are right on schedule. It’s an exciting time.
INNOVATION: In gaming and hospitality, we believe that if you’re growing nowhere, then you’re going nowhere. In a saturated market, you have to be on the front-end of technology and innovation to keep patrons and guests engaged in your product. Recently, Muscogee Nation Gaming Enterprises partnered with Everi to introduce, “Vi,” a first-of-its-kind Class II mobile gaming app. Now available on the App Store and Google Play, the app enables patrons to play more than 30 popular Everi Class II games on their mobile devices. We’re proud that this gives us a modern way to meet our players at their preferred touchpoint and extend our offerings beyond the traditional gaming floor.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT: Every day, we challenge our leadership team to ask themselves the same question: Are the decisions we’re making today going to advance and create a better life for our people in 25 years, 50 years? We have an orientation and onboarding process that grounds our team in tradition, culture, history, and accountability. They literally attend multiple days of presentations on the Muscogee ways, from A-Z. Nothing is more important to us than our employees and leadership never forgetting just who it is they’re working for, and what we’ve come through to get to this point. It keeps us all humbled, grounded and, most importantly, focused on the tasks at hand.
Wena Supernaw, Chair
Quapaw Nation
Downstream Casino Resort – Quapaw, OK; Quapaw Casino – Miami, OK
downstreamcasino.com / quapawcasino.com / quapawtribe.com
PRIORITIES: Our top priority is to grow and add Tribal Member Service programs to help our tribal members. This includes employment opportunities, increased social service levels, and new programs. All our social services are funded by our gaming enterprises. The Quapaw Nation is proud to offer these services to increase the well-being of all our tribal members.
Healing our reservation lands through environmental remediation is critical to healing our home. After 70 years of unregulated and unsupervised mining, it left a major portion of our reservation with the Tar Creek Superfund site. Without the federal and state funding, we would have to rely on the gaming enterprises to perform this critical land remediation.
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. These services are not available exclusively to tribal members, but to all members of our community.
Continued economic development is also a priority and is dependent upon all our other goals and heavily dependent upon gaming revenue to diversify our enterprises.
INNOVATION: Our digital footprint is expanding rapidly. The Quapaw Nation, through the Downstream Development Authority and Saracen Casino & Resort, developed an online sportsbook (OSB) that has been operational for four years in the State of Arkansas. According to gaming analyst Eilers & Krejcik, BetSaracen is the 14th largest online sports betting app (based on handle) in the U.S. Saracen Casino & Resort has also developed an iGaming application in anticipation of Arkansas legalizing iGaming in the state. The Quapaw Nation’s latest entity, Ka-Ni Ventures LLC, has its eye set on growth through jurisdictions outside of Arkansas.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT: Three years ago, the Quapaw Nation undertook a large reorganization to accomplish a couple of goals. First, there was an incredible amount of talent already present within the government. The goal here was to flatten the organizational structure so that talent could be brought forward for the benefit of our tribal members. Second, we recognized the importance of having strong leadership of those divisions, so we engaged outside service providers to pinpoint the types of leadership development needed. We are still on that path of executing leadership development and hopefully that will continue. We see that as an investment in our talented employees that continue to pay dividends in more efficient services to our tribal members. These full-time employees are not subject to elections or appointments. They are the rock on which our Nation stands.
Forrest Tahdooahnippah, Chairman
Comanche Nation
Comanche Red River Hotel Casino; Comanche Nation Casino; Comanche Star Casino; Comanche Spur Casino; Comanche Cache Casino; Comanche Nation Travel Plaza – OK
comanchenationentertainment.com / comanchenation.com
PRIORITIES: You will probably get a different answer for top priorities for the Comanche Nation depending on which Business Committee member you ask. However, my personal top priorities today for our Nation are (1) health and wellness and (2) language and cultural revitalization. I would like to see our tribal members be physically and emotionally healthy. I would also like to see our tribal members using the Comanche language in their daily lives and participating in traditional cultural activities such as horsemanship, dances, and the Native American Church.
Our gaming enterprises contribute the lion’s share of our budget, both directly through distribution of net income and indirectly through the taxes generated at our casinos (particularly sales and liquor taxes). Without gaming, the Comanche Nation could not support the more than 50 programs that offer services to tribal members. These programs include assistance with prescriptions and behavioral health services, a burgeoning language department, and donations to cultural activities.
INNOVATION: Innovation is at the heart of nearly every gaming-related decision we make. Our gaming enterprise, Comanche Nation Entertainment, uses data analytics to make decisions to guide floor updates with the newest slot and table games. We are also enhancing our Comanche Rewards Club to allow players to earn points faster and enjoy more personalized perks. We recently updated the physical space at our Comanche Red River Hotel Casino, as well. The new “Oasis at the Red” features two pools, cabanas, a bar and grill, and pickleball courts. Additionally, we added the upscale Chop House steakhouse to the Comanche Red River Hotel Casino, which features innovative partnerships with local wineries to provide a premier dining experience.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT: Tribal leadership constantly changes – each year at least two spots on the seven-person Business Committee are up for election. To ensure stability, promote growth, and improve alignment, the Comanche Nation has made a purposeful decision to appoint boards that are generally comprised of half Business Committee members and half tribal members from the general public. We have found that this mixture ensures continuity as people cycle on and off the Business Committee, while also enabling quick and positive communication between the boards and tribal leadership. The Comanche Nation is also actively moving some of its outside professional services (such as accounting) in-house to further enhance stability.
John Williams, Chairman
United Auburn Indian Community
Thunder Valley Casino Resort – Lincoln, CA
thundervalleyresort.com / auburnrancheria.com
PRIORITIES: Our top priority is making sure the tribe remains strong and stable for the long term. Everything we do really comes back to that. Thunder Valley Casino Resort has been the economic engine that allows us to provide services for our tribal members, invest in the community, and plan responsibly for the future. At the same time, the success of Thunder Valley has allowed us to be a strong partner in the region. We have been able to support local non-profits, public safety, education, and other community priorities throughout Placer County and the Sacramento area. Thunder Valley has also become one of the largest employers and economic drivers in the region, creating thousands of jobs and supporting many local businesses. Gaming has given our tribe the opportunity to build a strong foundation while also contributing to the broader community that has supported our growth.
INNOVATION: The gaming industry is always evolving, so we are constantly looking at ways to keep Thunder Valley competitive and relevant. We look at innovation as an important part of how we make decisions across both our gaming and hospitality operations. It helps us find ways to improve the guest experience, run our operations more efficiently, explore new opportunities for growth, and stay competitive in a very dynamic entertainment market. Some of that is technology on the gaming floor, some of it is new dining and entertainment options, and some of it is simply paying attention to what our guests want when they come through the doors.
We are fortunate to have a very strong management team that focuses on maintaining a high-quality guest experience while also thinking about what the property should look like five or ten years from now. Innovation for us is about making sure Thunder Valley continues to grow and evolve while staying true to the standards our guests have come to expect.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT: Leadership development is something we take very seriously because the long-term success of the tribe depends on it. We focus on mentorship, professional development, and creating opportunities for people within our organization to grow into leadership roles.
Many of the people leading our casino today have been with the organization for years, which creates continuity and a strong understanding of our mission. We are also focused on preparing the next generation of tribal leaders by encouraging education and giving younger tribal members opportunities to gain experience and develop the skills they will need in the future.
