Margaritaville at River Spirit Casino & Resort in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a partnership of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville brand, will be completed in December, with a partial opening in August. Muscogee (Creek) Casinos Chief Executive Officer Pat Crofts expects the development to significantly change the gambling scene in Tulsa. “This will be the best. No question about it. We’ll be the largest hotel. We’ll have two casinos under one roof. This pool deck out here. No one is going to have anything like that. This is comparable to any nice resort in the world,” he stated.
Right now Crofts said the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the Cherokee Nation, owners of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, share the market. Hard Rock does “a little bit” more business on the weekends, Crofts said. “The whole object here wasn’t just to build a bigger box and split the business up. No one wins that way. Everybody splits up the market. What we’re going to do is build something that will grow the market and bring people in,” Crofts noted.
He pointed later this year Simon Premium Outlets plans to break ground on Tulsa’s first outlet mall, located near Margaritaville. The Oklahoma Aquarium is nearby and the Flying Tee, a golf venue and sports bar, will open early next month. “Everything across the river–the Flying Tee, RiverWalk Crossing, the Simon Premium Outlets–there will be a very critical mass of people in this area. I think it will all feed off each other and do very well,” he said.
According to the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services, in the 2015 fiscal year the Cherokees paid the state about $14 million in exclusivity fees and the Creeks paid about $9 million. Consumers spend an estimated $1 billion annually in gambling, lodging and dining at Oklahoma casinos.
Margaritaville is intended to make people feel “like they’re somewhere else,” Crofts said. Outside, palm-tree murals will set the stage with suspended parrots flying above an overhead arch. A beach with palm trees will be created along the shores of the Arkansas River.
Crofts noted the Creek Nation own more undeveloped acres across the river. University of Oklahoma Economist Robert Dauffenbach said “river development has been central to” competition among cities. “These kinds of lifestyle aspects are important. We see it operating in a lot of different places in the country,” Dauffenbach said. He noted Tulsa voters approved the Vision renewal package in April, assuring infrastructure improvements that will keep water flowing in the Arkansas River. Currently the Tulsa City Council, the Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission and the private sector are working on guidelines regarding river-bank development. That will attract economic development and change people’s perception of Tulsa, Dauffenbach said.
Osage Casinos Public Relations Manager Chris Barton said the new Margaritaville will offer competition but also bring more people to Tulsa. “There’s so much competition out there that it pushes you to be up there, too,” he said, noting the Osage are building boutique hotels in Skiatook and Ponca City.
The Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma and the Cherokee Nation also are expanding and building casinos. In Wyandotte, in the northeast corner of the state, the Eastern Shawnee tribe plans to build a $34 million, seven-story addition to its Indigo Sky Casino. Expected to open next year, the expansion will add 125 hotel rooms and a ballroom, and create 45 new jobs to bring total employment to 650. The tribe owns and operates Indigo Sky, Bordertown Casino and Arena and the Outpost Casino.
The Cherokee Nation is building a $23 million casino near Grove. Set to open in December, it will offer more than 400 electronic games, table games and a private high-limit poker room.
According to Casino City’s Indian Gaming Industry Report, gambling revenue at Oklahoma tribal casinos rose 4.8 percent to about $4 billion in 2014, more than triple the growth rate for nationwide tribal gambling (excluding Oklahoma).
