Section A · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, February 5, 2001
Revenues, tensions rise on reservations
Continued from page 1A
state gaming agency's $1.4 million budget, regardless of the size of the gaming operation.
No additional fees or taxes are assessed by the state on Native-American gaming operations.
Tracy Diel, director of the state gaming agency, said that all four operations were making some money but that the amount varied by the size of the casino. Under the compacts, tribal casino revenues are not public information.
Revenue on the Reservation
Just four years since the Golden Eagle Casino opened with 333 betting machines in a reconstituted gym, the enterprise now brings in between 2,000 and 3,000 people on any given day, said Dan Stromer, general manager of the casino.
About a year after opening, the operation doubled in size by building on to its old structure. It now boasts 750 slot machines, 16 table games and six poker tables. Gamblers can try their luck 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The Kickapoo reservation is about 30 square miles, and approximately half of the Kickapoo's 1,600 enrolled members live either on the reservation or in the surrounding communities.
Nancy Bear, Kickapoo chairwoman, said casino revenues had been a boon for the tribe.
Road improvements, scholarships, new buses for the Kickapoo school, increased heath care, a Kickapoo language program — the list of casino-backed projects and services goes on.
Though the casino revenues are not public record, in 1998 a dissident group within the tribe revealed that the casino turned a $6.4 million profit the previous year.
"I think the majority of people are probably glad the casino is here and glad to see the revenue coming to the tribe," Bear said. "A lot of people on the reservation have benefited from the additional services and some of these revenue projects."
In addition to providing money for services, casino revenues have also been used to develop other economic resources. In October of 1999, the tribe opened a truck plaza about 45 miles north of Topeka on U.S. 75 in a deal with Texaco.
The tribe's sovereign status exempts is from the state tax on fuel, which is 20 cents for gasoline and 22 cents for diesel.
Bear said the most obvious sign of the casino's effects was the number of jobs that had been created in the area, for both Kickapoo and non Kickapoo.
Kickapoo chairwoman Nancy Bear sits beneath a mural depicting a Kickapoo locating the tribe's reservation and The Golden Eagle Casino in northeast Kansas. Bear and other tribal council have been accused by tribal members of corruption in handling the casino's revenue. Photo by Thad Allender/KANSAN
The Golden Eagle Casino employs about 370 people,15 percent of whom are Kickapoo tribal members. Bear said many other jobs had been created for tribal members in areas such as the administration office.The casino does have preferential hiring for Kickapoo members.
Dissent
While the Golden Eagle Casino has brought a degree of prosperity to the Kickapoo, it also has brought its share of rancor and legal and political conflicts.
Opposition to the gaming operation is headed by former tribal council members Steve Cadue, James Cisneros and Thelma Simon. Cadue, who lives in Lawrence, and Simon, of Horton, have sued, claiming wrongful removal from the tribal council. Cisneros, of Holton, filed a lawsuit alleging he was wrongfully removed from the tribal gaming commission.
The Golden Eagle Casino, located about 50 miles north of Topeka, was opened in 1996 by the Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas. Bringing in 2,000 to 3,000 people daily, the 55,000 square feet operation buests 750 slot machines, 16 table games and six poker tables. Photo by Thad Allender/KANSAN
Cisneros said that many tribal members had concerns about the gaming operation.
"You get a tribal council that is so deep into possible wrongdoing that they influence the operation of the casino, the gaming commission, the tribal courts," he said.
Shortly after he was hired onto the gaming commission in October of 1998, Cisneros said he began investigating rumors he had heard about the operation.
"People walking into the money room, the account room and walking out with silver briefcases full of money," he said were some of the allegations. "Possibly the accounts not being totally accurate. Monies were flowing from the casino down to the tribal council and no documentation."
Cisneros said the tribal council terminated him after he inquired into some of these allegations.
Diel, of the state gaming agency, said Cisneros' allegations highlighted one problem with the arrangement of tribal gaming.
"There needs to be some insulation between those who regulate and those who own the facility to allow regulators to do what they are supposed to do," he said.
The state gaming agency only regulates the daily operations of the casino, Diel said. Once the money goes to the tribe, the state has no oversight role.
Bear said the allegations of mishandling and misuse of funds were a smokescreen. She said the tribal council strictly budgeted the money and any excess revenues were voted on by the tribal council. She calls the allegations "sour grapes."
Kyle Naybeck, director of congressional and public affairs for the NIGC, said the commission had reviewed the complaints regarding the Kickapoo operation and that all
Cadue, Cisneros and Simon have appealed to the National Indian Gaming Commission to investigate possible improprieties.
"It's very, very simple," she said. "These people did not come to work. They did not do their jobs. They were removed from the tribal council for those very things."
the issues were resolved as far as the NIGC was concerned.
Cadue said the agency hadn't performed its duty.
"I think that they are very reluctant to admit that there are these illegal activities going on," he said. "They know they were negligent and dropped the ball in the case of the Kickapoo."
Raising the stakes
Bear said the majority of the tribe was ready to move past the conflicts.
Investigations and audits have turned up nothing, she said, and current tribal council members have had their legitimacy upheld by recent elections. Cadue, Cisneros and Simon were all unsuccessful in October elections.
"I think it's very clear that the people have spoken, that the people are tired of all this nonsense, this political fighting," she said. "We need to face those bigger issues."
Bigger issues include the future of the Kickapoo's Golden Eagle Casino. The tribe's biggest concern is the amount of competition in northeast Kansas, and it doesn't plan to rest on its current success.
Whether northeast Kansas can continue to support four casinos is still in doubt. Donald Fixico, director of the Indigenous Nations Studies Program at the University, said there was a general misconception that all American Indian casinos were successful.
"There's kind of a gilded edge about all of these Indian gaming operations," he said. "A lot of them are planned, put into practice, and they don't work. You don't read about the failures in America, you only read about the successes."
The compacts each tribe has with the state extend into perpetuity, so as long as the tribes continue to make money the casinos will stay
"The reality is that all four casinos are making some money," Diel
Kansas casinos
Farraigh's Prairie Band Casino
Tribe: Prairie Band Potawatomi
Store 957 machines, more than 30 table games.
Golden Eagle Casino
Tribe: Kickapoo
Slane 750 machines, more than 20 table games.
Sac and Fox Casino
Size: 464 machines, six table games
Tribes: Sac and Fox
Kvle Ramsev/KANSAN
Tribal casino timeline
1980 — Florida court recognizes Seminole Tribe's sovereign right to run bingo games without state regulation.
1987 --- Supreme court confirms Florida court's ruling and extends it to include casino operations.
1988 — Congress passes Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which establishes comprehensive system for online gambling on Native American lands.
1996 — Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas opens first casino in state. Three more soon follow.
Kyle Ramsey/KANSAN
said. "Each tribe has to decide whether they are making enough to justify their investment."
Diel said he didn't think that northeast Kansas could support four big casinos, but that if each tribe recognized its niche they could all survive.
"It's going to be tough," he said. "It depends on what the different tribes want their businesses to be."
Editor's note: A version of this story is scheduled to appear in The Wichita Eagle.
Informational Meeting Feb 6, Jayhawk Room-KS Union @7p.m.
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