....casinos are the wrong way to go....

Column: Chris Fitzsimon says casinos are the wrong way to go

Gov. Bev Perdue and Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee, kick off live-table games at Harrah's Cherokee Casino. The casino introduced live dealers under a new gaming compact enacted in June.

Gov. Bev Perdue and Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee, kick off live-table games at Harrah's Cherokee Casino. The casino introduced live dealers under a new gaming compact enacted in June. Credit: EASTERN BAND OF CHEROKEE INDIANS VIA PRNEWSFOTO

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By: CHRIS FITZSIMON | NC Policy Watch
Published: August 25, 2012

 

Gov. Beverly Perdue headed to Cherokee Tuesday to join officials of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to officially open live-table gaming at Harrah's Casino and Hotel. The first hand has been dealt.

It's not the biggest story of the week. It doesn't have anything to do with the election or Medicare or a U.S. Senate candidate claiming that women can't get pregnant when they are raped.

In fact, it's almost a nonstory, announced by press releases published in places like the Casino City Times. But there's something about it that is worthy of a discussion and it boils down to a simple question:

Is this the kind of state we want?

Think about it. The governor of North Carolina is celebrating not only the launch of live-table gaming in North Carolina but the latest escalation in the cozy relationship between the state and the predatory gambling industry.

Officials in the Perdue administration negotiated the deal that allowed live dealers at the casino in exchange for the state getting a cut of the profits, a few million dollars a year for education. And it was a plan with bipartisan support. The Republican-led General Assembly approved it.

This is not about the morality of gambling. It is about the state of North Carolina literally partnering with the predatory gambling industry to help fund our schools. And predatory is the right word.

Les Bernal with the national group Stop Predatory Gambling came to Raleigh earlier this year and laid out the disturbing facts at an N.C. Policy Watch Crucial Conversation luncheon.

Casinos make the vast majority of their money off a small percentage of customers, mostly problem gamblers or folks on the way to a serious problem. Bernal described how the most sought-after players were the folks who repeatedly used the ATM machine in the casino to keep getting more cash to keep gambling.

Casinos have a deal with the company that operates the cash machines to sell them the names of the people who make withdrawals, as they are the most likely customers to return. The prospects are then lured back with vouchers or a free hotel room to get them back in front of the live dealers whom Perdue celebrated this week.

Supporters of the casino compact tout the dealer jobs that will be created and the increase in tourism that new live games will bring to that area of the state. It's economic development, they tell us.

Then why only the casino in Cherokee? Why not live gambling in state-sanctioned casinos in Pinehurst or the Outer Banks or Charlotte, maybe right next to the NASCAR Hall of Fame? Think of the jobs we could create and all the money we could raise for our schools by luring problem gamblers into all those places, too.

You might be thinking that it's not a big deal that the state is now a more involved partner with the predatory gambling industry since the state already operates a lottery.

That's true, and that is a problem too, judging by the strong evidence that low-income people play the lottery at higher rates than the general population.

The folks who run the lottery and the people who defend it tell us virtually every day how much money schools are getting from the "education" lottery, but they never talk about where it's coming from. In fact, they don't keep any demographic information at all.

They just keep up with how much they make by convincing people to waste their money on a one-in-a-million chance of striking it rich because politicians of both parties would rather not raise money for education honestly and fairly.

They'd rather prey on the poor and the desperate the same way the casinos do. It's bad enough that Perdue and her legislative partners in predatory gambling approved the Cherokee deal.

Now she's appearing at the casino to celebrate it. This is not the kind of state we want, but it is the one we are getting. And it's disgusting.

http://www2.journalnow.com/news/opinion/2012/aug/25/wsopin02-chris-fitzsimon-column-the-kind-of-state--ar-2543749/

Updated: August 25, 2012 - 12:00 AM

Okla. casino may close if trust issue not decided

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS July 10, 2012

OKLAHOMA CITY — A federal judge affirmed an agreement on Tuesday that requires the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees to cease gambling activities July 30 unless it obtains federal trust status for the land in Tahlequah where the casino operates.

U.S. District Judge Ronald White wrote in his order that the tribe would be able to resume gaming operations if it receives a favorable ruling on its amended land trust application, as long as the land remains in trust and the National Indian Gaming Commission permits gaming on the land.

The attorney general and the tribe reached the agreement in June that required the Keetoowahs to pay $2 million to the state and end gambling operations at the Tahlequah site at the end of the month.

Tuesday's order granted a joint request by both parties to lift a temporary injunction that barred the state from enforcing gaming law violations at the casino.

The Keetoowah tribe opened the casino in 1986 before the federal government determined whether the land was Native American land. Under state law, casinos on non-American Indian land are illegal.

The National Indian Gaming Commission concluded last year that the casino land was not Indian land and not eligible for gaming. The Keetoowahs filed an amended trust application on Aug. 15.

James McMillin, an attorney for the tribe, said unless there is a favorable determination to take the land into trust before the month's end, the Keetoowahs must cease operations at the casino.

"It's a very dicey game," McMillin said. "We are hopeful, but we have no guarantees that it's going to happen."

The Tulsa World reported that the casino has brought in at least $13 million a year for the tribe.
(Story distributed by The Associated Press)

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/8d3ccd92fcc347e88dda136bd40e2e2e/OK--Keetoowah-Casino

July 11, 2012

Tribe ordered to suspend gaming

UKB must close Tahlequah casino

By D.E. SmootPhoenix Staff WriterThe Muskogee PhoenixWed Jul 11, 2012, 12:41 AM CDT

— Time is winding down for a Tahlequah-based tribe ordered Tuesday to suspend its gaming operations by July 30.

An agreed order issued by a federal judge in Muskogee requires the United Keetoowah Band of the Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma to close its Tahlequah casino. The tribe has operated its Tahlequah casino since 1986.

Jim McMillin, an Oklahoma City lawyer who represents the tribe, said UKB officials are hopeful the looming suspension can be avoided. For that to happen, McMillin said, the U.S. Interior Department would have to grant the tribe’s application to place into trust the property where the casino is located.

“It will be a terrible blow to the tribe if that doesn’t happen,” McMillin said about the agency’s pending decision. “The casino is the tribe’s major source of income. Tribal services would be curtailed tremendously if the casino is closed.”

Suspending the tribe’s gaming operations is one among several terms of the order based upon an agreement struck June 8 by state and tribal officials. The order lifts an earlier order that prohibited the state from enforcing its gaming laws against the tribe until federal officials ruled on the status of property where the casino is located.

State law prohibits tribes from operating casinos on property that does not qualify as Indian land. Attempts to enforce state gaming laws against the UKB were thwarted in 2004 when a state district judge issued a temporary injunction because of ongoing questions about whether the UKB casino was on Indian land.

The National Indian Gaming Commission ruled one year ago the UKB’s casino property did not qualify as “Indian lands” as defined by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The NIGC’s determination was upheld by the U.S. Interior Department’s solicitor.

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt and UKB Chief George Wickliffe struck a deal in June allowing the casino to operate until July 30. The agreement includes a provision requiring the tribe to pay the state $2 million — a lump sum of $100,000 by June 8 and 60 monthly payments of $33,720.

Those payments, according to the June 8 agreement, will be suspended if the casino is shuttered and would continue when the tribe is able to resume Class II or III gaming operations.

McMillin said the tribe applied five years ago to place the casino land into trust and amended its application nearly a year ago. A decision, McMillin said, is pending administrative review.

“We are doing everything we possibly can to find a pathway through this and get a favorable determination of placing that property into trust,” McMillin said.

M. Thomas Jordan, UKB communications director, said Wickliffe was traveling Tuesday and unavailable to comment.

Reach D.E. Smoot at (918) 684-2901 or dsmoot@muskogeephoenix.com.

http://muskogeephoenix.com/local/x1146337567/Tribe-ordered-to-suspend-gaming

North Carolina Cherokee and the Potential of Default

Cherokee election politics fixed on looming casino debt
Written by Colby Dunn


In the current political debate, the word ‘debt’ has become ubiquitous. Cherokee is no exception, where discussion of the debt of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians — and how, precisely, to dispose of it — has dominated the election season since it began this spring.

With one month to go until the election for chief, vice chief and tribal council, voters are standing up at every public forum to ask questions about the debt while candidates are touting their plans to eradicate it.

Meanwhile, the finance department for the tribe has gone on a massive public information campaign: opening a forum on the tribe’s website, starting a hotline where people can e-mail questions and get an answer back from a finance officer and leafleting the reservation with brochures entitled things like “A Closer Look at Tribal Debt.”

One question seems to underlie the whole discussion: how much, exactly, is the debt?

Answers from different sources have been many and varied, and depend very much on where you stand politically. The incumbent chief and vice chief claim the tribe’s debt is manageable. The challengers claim it has ballooned out of control.

It’s often said that numbers don’t lie, and with tribal debt, these are the raw numbers as of June 30, the end of the last fiscal year.

The tribal government has two debts it’s paying off directly: $57.2 million is still owed on the $107 million school complex and $10.8 million is still owed on the Sequoyah National Golf Club.

There’s also an $8.9 million series of loan guarantees that the tribe backs for the Cherokee Historical Association’s line of credit, the Tribal Bingo Enterprise and Balsam West, a broadband enterprise the tribe has a stake in.

If you take the position of the tribe’s finance department and Principal Chief Michell Hicks, that’s all the debt the tribe has — $76.9 million.

But then, of course, there’s the casino debt.

The casino is undergoing a massive expansion project, for which the tribe’s casino enterprise has secured a $650 million line of credit. So far, the enterprise has tapped $494.3 million of it.

Deputy Financial Officer Kim Peone expects that not all of it will be spent when the expansion is complete, and she doesn’t consider that tribal debt at all.

The casino is an entity of the tribe, but is run by a separate group called the Tribal Casino Gaming Enterprise. The gaming enterprise, not the tribe itself, is responsible for the casino’s half billion in debt.

But here’s where politics comes into play. The current administration running for re-election is adamant that tribal debt shouldn’t include casino loans.

And it’s true that, if the casino defaulted, the bank wouldn’t come looking for the tribal government’s assets.

“We’re not ignoring the impact that a default would have on this tribal government and the services that we provide to this community,” said Peone. “But the casino debt is not guaranteed by the tribe, it’s guaranteed by TCGE.”

From that perspective, there’s $76.9 million in debt. Meanwhile, the tribe’s designated account it makes debt payments from has just over $134 million in it.

Simple math tells you that the tribe could pay the debt off today, but according to Peone, choose not to because that money is earning more interest than the debt is costing.

“Currently, the interest rate on that loan is less than the funds that we’ve invested in,” said Peone. “From year-to-date, that fund has earned 4.5 percent as opposed to 2 percent in a loan.”

On the current schedule, she plans to have both the school and golf course loans paid in full by 2014.



Casino debt part of bigger picture
But opponents say you can’t remove the tribe from the casino; they’re inextricably linked.

For starters, profits from Harrah’s Cherokee Casino accounts for roughly 90 percent of the tribe’s operating budget. If more of those profits were diverted to making debt payments, the tribe’s budget for providing services to enrolled members — such as schools and medical care — would be impacted.

Patrick Lambert, a challenger for the position of principal chief, said he thinks it’s impossible to separate casino debt from the tribe.

“It’s all tribal debt,” said Lambert, pointing out that the tribe’s operating budget would plummet precipitously were anything to happen to the casino debt.

This is Lambert’s second time going for the chief’s seat, and though he lost by a slim margin in the 2007 election, he defeated Hicks in the July primary. He is a lawyer for the Tribal Gaming Commission.

Lambert said he is concerned, too, about just where the tribe is investing its money to get such good returns, asking if such investments are too risky.

“I think it’s pretty clear on debt. I come from a background of small business, and so I understand about debt and borrowing and those type of issues,” said Lambert. “Debt is a necessity, but it’s also something you can’t let get out of control. We need to control the spending so we can start applying more of the revenues we do have to overall debt.’

Right now, said Peone, the tribe puts 8 percent of every dollar it spends to paying off its non-casino debts.

The casino pays $20 million a year on its debt, plus more on interest.

Both principal chief candidates have promised to pay down the debt if they are elected, though that could be plus or minus a few hundred million depending on what you consider “the debt.”

The current administration is out to prove that the tribe is on sound financial footing, especially compared to other municipal governments.

The opposition is calling for a check on spending and reigning in the debt.

And when voters visit the polls September 1, it may be the best numbers that win.

Harrah's Swindle Flu

Of the Swindle Flu -- that MSM ignores --

This is the same casino where a patron was electrocuted and survived with permanent injuries.

Gambling Risk: Electrocution?

NC casino cleans slots every 2 hours to beat virus

CHEROKEE, N.C. -- Workers are cleaning slot machines with bleach every two hours as a North Carolina casino battles a virus that has sickened nearly 250 people.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reported Friday that Harrah's Cherokee Casino and Hotel is wiping down its 3,300 slot machines with a bleach and water mix around the clock. The outbreak since Jan. 12 has caused intestinal troubles including vomiting and diarrhea.
Door knobs, escalator handrails and restrooms are being sanitized hourly.

Casino spokesman Charles Pringle says the culprit is a norovirus that is sometimes a problem on cruise ships and at schools.

State epidemiologist David Bergmire-Sweat says relatively few of the casino's 7,500 daily visitors have gotten sick.

Gambling Risk: Electrocution?

Who expects to be electrocuted playing slots?

Defective slot machine zaps gambler


A slot machine at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino malfunctioned, delivering a shock that floored a gambler, according to a lawsuit brought by the victim.

While the incident occurred over three years ago, Willie Jean Robinson is still waiting to hear whether she can collect civil damages over the bizarre personal injury case.

Robinson is suing Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and IGT Inc. –– the manufacturer of the slot machines –– for damages related to her injuries.

The case stems from an incident that occurred in March 2006 when Robinson was playing a slot machine at the casino and allegedly received a shock that injured her right hand and left her with lasting loss of feeling in her fingers.

“When Plaintiff inserted the card into the slot machine ... she was immediately shocked by the machine and fell to the floor. The individuals who accompanied Plaintiff to Harrah’s Cherokee Casino attended to her and it was immediately reported to the Defendant Manager on the floor,” the civil complaint reads.

Her attorneys allege that Robinson suffered personal injury, lost wages, and incurred medical expenses as a result of the accident. But the case hasn’t been as simple as determining who, if anyone, was at fault for the defective slot machine.

Robinson’s lawyer, John Hayes of Charleston, S.C., filed the case in Jackson County Court. But the defendants in the case, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and IGT Inc. can’t agree where the case should be heard.

Last month, legal counsel for Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Tribal Gaming Casino Enterprise asked a judge in Jackson County Superior Court to move the case to tribal court, arguing that a failure to do so would “adversely affect the tribal sovereignty of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.”

Attorneys for IGT Inc. –– a publicly traded global gaming company –– argued that because neither the company nor the plaintiff resides in Cherokee, tribal courts should not have jurisdiction over their portion of the case.

Hayes said after talking to the casino’s attorney, he agrees the proper place for the case to beard is in tribal court. Hayes said he expects Judge Zoro Guice to issue an order that will move the case to tribal court.