The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe owns and operates the Prairie Knights Casino and Resort in Fort Yates, North Dakota. Photo from Facebook
Indian gaming is a $28.5 billion industry and Prairie Public Broadcasting took a look at its impact in North Dakota. Four tribes operate casinos in the state and they generated about $237 million in revenues in 2014, according to Steven Light, the co-director of the Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law and Policy. Each tribe employs between 200 to 400 people at their facilities, he said. Indian gaming is "one of the top economic engines in the states, especially when you think about the ripple effect, both on and off the reservation, so we can certainly count successes just at the level of jobs and revenue," Light told Prairie Public Broadcasting. Many of those jobs go to tribal members like Steven Sitting Bear, who hails from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The casino was one of the few places he could find work after returning from a stint in the U.S. Marines. "I worked there at the casino for 2 and 1/2 years in different departments. I was able to work my way up the ladder a little ways," Sitting Bear was quoted as saying. Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II said gaming revenues help fund programs on the reservation. But with 40 percent of people on the reservation living below the poverty line, they aren't an economic cure-all. "For us, we have 2 small casinos, it doesn’t generate multi multi millions or billions – it offsets the costs where the federal government is failing," Archambault told Prairie Broadcasting. Get the Story:
Chasing the Dream -- Casinos and Opportunity (Prairie Public Broadcasting 6/30)
Chasing the Dream -- Steven Light and Kathryn Rand on Indian Gaming in North Dakota and the US (Prairie Public Broadcasting 6/30)
Chasing the Dream -- Scott Davis (Prairie Public Broadcasting 6/27)
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