Native casinos won a record amount that amounts to $34.6 billion in the 2019 fiscal session. However, the tribes tell the coronavirus pandemic has negated the chance to celebrate the win.
NIGC, the National Indian Gaming Commission, has released gross revenue earned from the gaming industry for the fiscal year 2019. It started from 2018’s October through 2019’s Sept. The report is a conglomeration of 522 audited economic statements, which are sent to the NIGC from federally organized 245 tribes across around 29 states that operate casino gaming.
The native Indian gaming is a vital element of numerous tribal economies all across the US.
The indigenous Americans are totally fresh off their most favorable gaming yea in the long history. However, such joy and merriment cannot get to be celebrated due to the threat and distress brought by the pandemic coronavirus.
After originating in China, the COVID-19 virus had its way to the US around the initiation of 2020 and spread like wildfire throughout February and March. The pandemic propelled every type of commercial casinos to be closed down, and nearly all the tribal gambling venues shared the same ill fate.
The 2020 economic session is appeared to be a steep retraction from the past session’s record-breaking performance. In spite of the current on-going struggle, native Indian gaming has demonstrated its stiffness over the year. Following research conducted by Meister Economic-Consulting, the pandemic coronavirus has set almost 300K people out of their work. It also cost around $1 billion in their wages.
Being a part of a sovereign system, tribal casinos do not require to follow any law and state inflicted guideline or shutdown orders. It may play a vital factor in achieving such high revenue. However, every one of the large tribal casinos gets to be shut at different points of the year. Those shutdowns were just to attempt to slow down the spread rate of the coronavirus, and it happened when the virus went beyond all effort of controlling.
Among such days, this success of the Native Americans proves their dedication to a sustainable and safe Native Indian industry.