Gaming revenue has fueled 30 years of growth for the 360,000 member Cherokee Nation, the largest Indian tribe in the U.S. Today the Tahlequah, Oklahoma-based tribe is an economic and cultural powerhouse, the main driver of northeast Oklahoma’s economy. Cherokee Principal Chief Bill John Baker said, “As Cherokees, it is important to us that all of northeast Oklahoma grow and prosper. We are the economic engine of northeast Oklahoma.”
The Cherokee Nation and Cherokee Nation Businesses have a combined annual budget of $2 billion. They operate a diverse variety of businesses, including several casinos, with “a direct economic impact of $2.2 billion in northeast Oklahoma,” Baker said.
He added, “This is not a venture to make someone a billionaire. We have 360,000 citizens. We are in business to provide people with adequate access to health care, scholarships for education, job growth, build homes for undeserved population. We do not want our grandchildren to move 2,000 miles away. We don’t want them moving to California, Texas, Kansas and Washington, D.C. We want our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren to be here with us. They left for jobs and other reasons. We want them here.”
In 1968, the Cherokees had an annual budget of $1.1 million, fully funded by the federal government. Last year, the Cherokee Nation budget was $915 million. The economic success story started in 1987 when Chief Wilma Mankiller and the Cherokee Council decided to enter the gaming industry. Cherokee Nation Businesses Chief Executive Officer Shawn Slaton said, “It was her desire to use gaming money for housing, health care and education. When it was first proposed, it didn’t pass. There was a lot of resistance. But the council came together.”
Baker noted, “One of our biggest concerns in recent years, as our revenue grew, was to make sure we diversified our businesses. Yes, we’ve had quite a few successes in the last seven years. We need to use those income sources to put dollars in a diverse group of successful businesses. There is no reason we won’t continue to grow our business. I’m pretty confident we will continue to grow and continue to diversify. We are constantly looking for new ways to grow our revenue. But when we talk about job growth we’re talking about job growth in all sectors of the economy, not just tribal businesses.”
The Cherokee Nation and Cherokee Nation Businesses employ a total of 14,000 people, from Tahlequah to Baghdad, Mexico to the United Arab Emirates.
Over the last decade, the Cherokees have donated $50 million to education in northeast Oklahoma. It also spent $500,000 to bring the Bassmasters Classic to Grand Lake and Tulsa. “That fishing tournament had an economic impact of around $34 million here in northeast Oklahoma. That’s a pretty good investment when you can turn $500,000 into $34 million,” Baker said. He added, “I like to think we’re a corporate sponsor on steroids. We are constantly looking for ways to make our partnerships make those dollars go so much further. In the last eight years we’ve doubled our business. There’s no reason why we won’t double again in the next eight years.”
At a recent casino groundbreaking ceremony in Tahlequah, Mayor Jason Nichols said he considers himself “the most fortunate mayor in America. In the last few years, there has been a local investment of more than a quarter-billion dollars in a town of 17,000. All of this will bring about 1,000 jobs to Tahlequah. That is incredible.”
