The Oglala Sioux Tribe’s Prairie Wind Casino, located in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, recently launched a major, multi-million-dollar re-branding campaign to counteract ongoing branding and perception issues. In a recent survey of 100 Rapid City residents, conducted by the casino, 70 percent of the respondents were unaware the casino existed. Also, casino officials said some potential patrons feel the reservation is not safe.
General Manager Loris Welch said, “It was astonishing that over 70 percent of them never heard of us. In the re-branding and re-positioning, we’re hitting the Rapid City area, Hermosa and north, hard.” Regarding safety issues, IT Manager Larry Swimmer added, “They’ve never been here, they’ve only seen the stories on TV or word of mouth. In overcoming those perceptions, you have to step forward.”
Besides adding a new poker room, the casino will be giving away $25,000 to one person every day in April; a deluxe golf cart; and a Harley-Davidson. Added Welch, “Coming up in August, we are literally going to give away the house. We have purchased a fully furnished modular house right down to the silverware and the coffee pot. All you’ve got to bring is your suitcase, and you can move right in.” Outside the casino complex, beginning this summer, four wind turbines will help power the hotel and casino. Four-star award-winning chefs have been hired to enhance dining operations. And new billboards, featuring Native Americans, will soon line area highways.
Welch said Prairie Wind will work with West River tourism officials to market the casino as a destination along with nearby Badlands National Park and the Black Hills.
More than 250 people work at Prairie Wind Casino and its sister operation, East Wind Casino in Martin; 90 percent live on the reservation.
Also in South Dakota, the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe has held public meetings to make its case for a $34 million, off-reservation casino in Oacoma. The tribe said the development would create 280 construction jobs, attract 300,000 visitors annually and have an economic impact of $55 million after the first year of operation.
Tribal Chairman Michael Jandreau said, “In short, frankly, all of the governmental responsibility that is supposed to provide for our reservation and our people just isn’t coming. We have to do what we have to do in order to make our reservation and our community better.”
The meetings are being held as part of an environmental assessment required by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Next, the BIA will receive a draft assessment later this month and a final version in July. If the project is approved, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell would have to approve the casino and South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard would have the final say.
