The Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association recently hosted the 22nd annual Conference and Trade Show in Tulsa, attracting more than more than 3,000 tribal leaders and members, casino executives and employees, gaming regulators and vendors from across Oklahoma and the nation. Speakers and workshops addressed federal legislation, working with local communities, non-gaming amenities, the benefits of promoting tribal goods and services and more. Vendors demonstrated the latest in casino gaming, technology, security and other areas.
Established in 1986, the OIGA represents 38 federally recognized Indian tribes in Oklahoma. Thirty of them run gaming operations in a total of 124 Indian gaming locations, offering about 71,750 electronic games, more than 4,600 bingo seats and other games. These figures rank Oklahoma as one of the top two states in the country for number of gaming machines and number of casinos.
Conference speakers noted over the past decade, Oklahoma tribes that operate casinos have paid the state more than $333 million. Also since 2006, Oklahoma tribes have paid the state more than $980 million in exclusivity fees, based on revenues of more than $2.1 billion, which go to education, the general revenue fund and mental health and substance abuse programs. This year, exclusivity fees are expected to top $1 billion.
At the conference, the OIGA released its Statewide Economic Impacts from Oklahoma Tribal Government Gaming– 2015 Annual Impact, which indicated tribal gaming has a $4.2 billion impact on the state economy. That is 2.5 percent of private production in the Oklahoma economy. The report also showed:
- Oklahoma tribal gaming supported 23,277 jobs in 2014; 83.2 percent were full-time positions.
- Annual wages, salaries and tips totaled nearly $910 million, with annual employee benefits of $255 million including healthcare, dental and life insurance, plus retirement plans.
- In 2014, Oklahoma tribal gaming employees paid out more than $264 million in payroll related taxes, including almost $30 million in income taxes.
- Oklahoma casinos had more than 38.2 million visits in 2014, including more than 14.6 million visits from out-of-state.
- In 2014 alone, Oklahoma tribal gaming operations spent more than $405 million in capital expenditures and improvements, creating 2,883 jobs.
