Tribal casinos enjoyed a banner year in 2016?a success story that’s been a mixed blessing for Nevada’s casinos?good for Las Vegas, generally speaking, not so good for Reno and Laughlin.
Figures from the National Indian Gaming Commission show the country’s 484 Indian-owned casinos in 29 states garnered a record $31.2 billion in gross gaming revenue last year, 4.4 percent higher than the year before.
And the two markets closest to the Silver State’s casinos?that is, those with the most competitive impact?California and the Phoenix area?were among the best performers. California led all tribal markets with $8.4 billion in win, a 6.3 percent increase over 2015. The Phoenix region was fourth-best, growing 4.4 percent to $2.9 billion.
“It is an amazing and remarkable story for the tribes,” said Bo Bernhard, executive director of the International Gaming Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas?one that has accrued to the benefit of Las Vegas, or so Bernhard believes, whetting the appetites of their customers for the bigger, brighter lights of the Strip.
“In Arizona, they have extremely well-run professional properties,” he said, “Gila River and Talking Stick, both of which are really nice, have great management and continue to improve.”
While in California, tribes also have found success partnering with established Vegas operators to manage their casinos. Caesars Entertainment, under the Harrah’s brand, runs a resort near San Diego. Station Casinos manages a similarly large-scale resort for a tribe in Rohnert Park in the north of the state.
“They’ve brought with them a Las Vegasized approach to management and grown into their own unique entities,” he said.
But those Nevada markets lacking Las Vegas’ cachet?smaller, more gambling-centric towns like Reno and Laughlin?have relinquished to the tribes much of their traditional out-of-state player base.
As Bernhard put it, “Reno is a different story.”
“My mentor, (former University of Nevada professor) Bill Eadington, was very eloquent talking about how Northern California tribal gaming was really the gaming beast that killed Reno. It was those really impressive Northern California properties that are every bit as nice as any of the smaller properties here.”
