Tribal Health Programs Win Big with Casino Profits

Further, as casino money is funneled into direct-care health services, the benefits of this revenue become harder to trivialize and even more difficult to deny for their substantive value to the people who benefit from such windfalls. More importantly, however, is the overarching impact of these dollars: the loose change from tourists translates to big change for many tribes-people who live beyond the glitz and clamor of the casino floors, and the tribes want everybody to know it.

Indeed, casino gaming has been a way to turn tribal economies around, according to Dee Pigsley, chairwoman of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz, operator of the Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Lincoln City, Oregon. "We had to overcome insurmountable odds," she said, noting that, "No other development could return the kind of profits that a casino could offer."

And such revenues are especially valuable today during federal reductions to many tribal programs. In particular, tribal casinos are placing a high philosophical value on the health and future success of their people first and foremost, especially as today's exploding health care costs and cut-backs hit reservations as hard as it affects non-tribal communities.

One shining example of a tribe greatly benefiting from new casino-funded health programs is the Muckleshoot Tribe in Auburn, Washington, which operates the Muckleshoot Casino. According to a tribal annual report, "The success of the casino has changed the possibilities for the Muckleshoot Tribe forever."