SAN DIEGO – The chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association conference said he sees tribes being more aggressive and more willing to build and acquire casinos off their reservations in the future, especially with the increasing advent of national sports betting.
Victor Rocha, a member of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians in California, talked Tuesday about the state of tribal and commercial gaming in the U.S. during a session at the NIGA conference in San Diego.
Rocha talked about how tribes “have become so good at gaming,” citing the Poarch Creek Band of Indians in Alabama, who last year purchased the former Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for $1.3 billion. The tribe has since spent a further $190 million to renovate the property and renamed it Wind Creek Casino and Resort.
Other tribes are buying and pursuing commercial properties, and Rocha talked about how a few years ago a tribe was looking to buy a casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
“It didn’t happen, but maybe one day it will,” Rocha said. “Tribes have become some of the best in the world at gaming. They’re in Atlantic City, which gives us real-world experience, and they’re in iGaming and sports betting. That will make us better. You will see more tribes going into commercial.”
The fear of reopening the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, providing the framework for Native American gaming, will lead to more tribes going after commercial off-reservation properties, he said.
“They are afraid to do it under the Trump Administration. They were afraid to do it under President Obama, too,” Rocha said. “So they’re (forced) to seek alternatives.”
Rocha said he sees a lot of opportunities with sports betting for tribal casinos, but said he also has concerns and is hesitant to fully embrace it.
“I try tamp down the brake a little, so we can understand what this is and what it will be in 10 years. My issue is whether it’s the proverbial camel’s nose in the tent. There is a lot of opportunity there, but we need to make sure we don’t make any bad decisions.”
Sports betting, however, will be a catalyst for expansion off tribal lands, Rocha said.
“It will change their minds about moving off the reservation,” he said. “There is still a lot of money on the table… now you will see more tribes moving off the reservation. Nothing succeeds like success, and tribal gaming has been very successful.”
Rocha cited the common interests that commercial and tribal gaming have discovered in the twenty years since the 1998 initiative that ultimately enabled Class III tribal gaming in California. Las Vegas casinos were opposed to the measure.
“What is bringing us together now is the same commonality,” Rocha said. “The tribes don’t feel so threatened by commercial gaming. You have seen a real maturation in the tribes with their leadership and the next generation. They are different than they were 20 years ago. They are smarter and more entrepreneurial. They’re still cultural and attached to the tribe, but they might have an MBA now.”
He cited the changed relationship between NIGA and the AGA, saying that the groups had been at odds in the past. That situation changed under the leadership of former AGA CEO Geoff Freeman, who took over in 2013 and gave tribes a voice within the group. Member tribes were among those who helped choose Freeman’s successor.
“The AGA has done a complete 180,” he said. “Now you have NIGA and the AGA working together, and that helps in Washington, DC (with lobbying.) Together we are much stronger.”
