Some Washington state tribal casinos have faced criticism for remaining open, even after news that the Covid-19 virus had taken hold in the United States.
But Chris Stearns, former head of the Washington State Gambling Commission (WSGC), says casinos in the state “did a pretty good job of reacting.”
One of the first identified cases of Covid-19 was an employee at the Wildhorse Resort and Casino in Oregon. After the worker was hospitalized, leaders of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation ordered the casino, hotel and several tribal offices shuttered, and all guests were asked to leave. Wildhorse was the first casino in the United States to close due to the virus, and then, “the other tribes all announced it pretty quickly thereafter.”
Stearns served six years on the commission, from 2013 to 2019, including two terms as chairman. Currently, he’s a council member for the city of Auburn, King County, population 70,000. He said he understands the challenges the sudden impact of the contagion has had on governments—large, medium and small, tribal and otherwise. Although the state government responded to the virus quickly, he said, the tribes may have delayed shutting down because casinos are their main source of revenue.
“The federal government can issue debt or a $5 billion bill and tack it onto the national debt,” Stearns said. “With our city budgets, we’re required by the state constitution to be budget-neutral—we can’t spend more than we have.” Just as fallout from the virus “will impact our ability as a city to deliver services and purchase things,” tribal casinos had similar concerns.
Stearns is a member of the Navajo Nation. He said tribes everywhere share a common commitment to sovereignty and funding of governmental services, including social services.
“They’re are in a tough situation. They rely a lot on gaming revenues to fund basic services. It’s not an earnings or profit loss, or for shareholders. They’re concerned about whether they can keep electricity and water running. Can they provide schools, school lunches and breakfasts? At the same time, they care that the people who come to gamble are safe as well.”
They’re not in the same boat as the two dozen card clubs in the state, which are for-profit businesses. “They’re definitely not like MGM or Las Vegas Sands in Las Vegas,” said Stearns, “which don’t have to worry about closing their school lunch room or senior centers.”
When the contagion hit, he added, “There really wasn’t much guidance. We didn’t have too much to look at. People at other states are looking at how Washington or New York handled it. Obviously, the tribes are sovereign nations, and every one of them is different. There are big ones and small ones. Some have large revenue streams, and some are pretty isolated. They all have different forms of government.”
Moreover, each tribe relies on its own health care center, though at present each one is working with state and federal governments, in order to react appropriately to the contagion as it develops.
“I’ve seen notices for various conferences calls they have with the White House,” said Stearns. “They’re getting their information from different sources than we are. I think they were trying to be as careful and responsible as possible and trying to see what everyone else is doing.
“Right now,” he said, “there’s a lot of fear and lot of unknowns with what happened in China and Italy. We’re still at ground zero here.”
