Though tribal gaming revenues are expected to exceed those in states with legalized commercial gambling, tribal properties are facing the same economic pressures.

American Gaming Association CEO Frank Fahrenkopf told the Reno Gazette Journal that tribal gaming revenue exceeded $26 billion while commercial properties raked in $34 billion.

“For a number of years now, tribal gaming revenues have been growing faster than the commercial side of gaming,” Fahrenkopf told the Reno newspaper.

Michael Anderson, a former deputy assistant secretary of Indian affairs at the Interior Department, told the Gazette Journal that tribal gaming revenue is expected to increase by more than $1 billion each year.

However, tribal gaming officials acknowledge that the recession has heavily impacted their properties’ revenues.

“To be honest, our figures are not at the levels we had last year,” said the Mohegan Tribal Council’s Bruce “Two Dogs” Boszum, who runs the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut. “But I think everybody in the United States is feeling the same thing we are.”

Kristi Jackson of the Los Angeles-based Bank of America Securities, which lends to tribal properties, told the Reno newspaper that though some properties are experiencing hardship, tribal gaming as a whole is on the rise.

By GGB Staff

Staff writers for Global Gaming Business magazine. Las Vegas, Nevada.