COVID-19 Impacts More Than Casino Business for Wisconsin Tribes - Newstbt.com COVID Impacts More Than Casino Business for Wisconsin Tribes

The COVID-19 crisis has noticeably affected gaming activities around the United States. Tribal casinos such as the two Forest County Potawatomi operate in Wisconsin have felt unparalleled levels of impact.

The Potawatomi Hotel and Casino in Milwaukee has Plexiglas dividers around each slot machine to ensure a safe gaming experience. The Potawatomi tribe relies on gambling for 90 percent of its tribal revenue, much of which comes from the Potawatomi Hotel and Casino, the biggest casino in the state. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an especially damaging effect on the tribe—totaling over $100 million in economic losses, leading to the elimination of almost 2,000 jobs and budget cuts. This devastating impact isn’t unique to the Potawatomi as all 11 Wisconsin tribes that operate casinos have seen the same mounting losses due to the soaring cases of the virus.

Soaring COVID-19 Numbers

Face coverings are required at all times and guests must practice social distancing.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to plague Wisconsin, ranking third worst in the entire nation. On Tuesday, the state had another record-setting number of positive cases. Whilst licensed casinos have reopened three months after shut-down, the return to business has been slow as expected. For the first stage, only invited players clubs and high-rollers could enter, according to Crawford from Casino.org. Furthermore, there were restrictions on the time each person spent gambling and limitations on the number of people allowed in the casino at once. Though the casino has since increased the capacity to 3,000, this is still short of the normal 50%. To ensure safety at Potawatomi, all guests have temperatures taken before entering, must wear face coverings, and remain socially distanced at all times.

Masks are a must upon entering the casino, and Plexiglas barriers have been installed between each slot machine. Unfortunately, table games like blackjack have been removed, and all restaurants are closed aside from take-out orders. This has been costly for the gaming business, as additional expenses and the decrease in revenue have had a negative impact. “It’s really putting a damper on regular operations,” commented Crawford. The losses haven’t been exclusive to the casino, as the native tribe has also experienced them.

Bad for Tribe, Too

The Wisconsin Department of Administration reported that the twenty-six casinos located in the state generated around $1.27 billion in revenue during the 2018-19 fiscal year, the most recent year with available data. Additionally, the total handle statewide exceeded a record sum of $17.55 billion. Unfortunately, due to the numerous effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, this income has decreased sharply; tribal members are some of the worst hit, having experienced a reduced workforce. For example, in July at the Milwaukee casino, 1,600 employees were furloughed, and 200 tribal government employees were furloughed in Forest County. Tribal governments worked to minimize the damage via the help of the federal CARES Act, albeit the effects were late and not as potent as anticipated by Crawford.

The money that was returned to Forest County’s tribal government powered their health-care and education programs, as well as services for the elderly, as well as additional standard governmental programs to provide for their citizens, Crawford told Casino.org. As a result of the budget cuts, all of those programs had to reduce the scope of their services. Considering Forest County’s population is around 9,000 and there’s been a rise in unemployment of 7.2% over the last 12 months, the casino is the biggest source of employment in the county, as well as one of Milwaukee County’s 25 biggest employers – in Crawford’s words, “it’s devastating”. Just like everyone else, Crawford is eager to experience a return of the usual way of life, restored casinos, and eventually days filled with prosperity for the tribe.