Viejas Casino Resort welcomes players posting “Let’s Play Again!”
Tribal casinos reopen facilities in California as closure could bring back poverty
The Viejas Casino Resort property of The Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, east of San Diego, California, ran a Facebook video campaign showing how they were preparing to reopen for the “new normal”, following closure of the casino on pandemic orders:
” We’re sterilizing every machine and every table every day so that you stay safe during your visit to Viejas. That’s UVC Clean!” is the message from the Viejas casino and fronting the property for everyone on the highway to see is the “Let’s Play Again!” board.
The Viejas casino gamble, which was taken by tribal directive was based on Indian sovereignty, and along with at least one dozen other tribal casinos in the week of May 15, defied the state government, while governor Gavin Newsom pleaded with them to remain closed in the face of pandemic.
Like the rest of the country, and the world, even, the reopening of the California economy has been a political duel between businesses desperate for income and a governor who warns his constituents at every turn about the dangers of returning to something resembling normalcy too quickly. There is reason on both sides, and it fall upon the businesses to act with responsibility to protect its client base and the public in general.
As republican supporte4rs in California battle against the Democratic governor in every conceivable way, the issue of the state’s more than 70 Indian casinos, an US$8 billion industry that has been shut down for the past two months, has been a separate contest of wills, both legally and politically.
According to a report from The New York Times, “Complicated by the role of Indian sovereignty, the question of who should decide when Indian casinos are allowed to open is shadowed by the legacy of the deadly and degrading treatment of tribal communities for centuries. Under a series of agreements that tribes have with the government, Indian businesses have special status that allows them to operate independently in many areas.
John Christman, chairman of the Viejas Band, co-signed an earlier letter to Newsom by casino-owning tribes in San Diego County that was polite but firm in describing their intentions: “We fully share and embrace your primary concern for public health and welfare. We believe strongly our governments and business operations are ready, willing and able to maintain public health and welfare while we responsibly reopen our gaming operations.”
More than a dozen Indian casinos across California reopened last week, with Viejas vowing “a hospital-clean environment” and strict limits on the number of people gambling at one time.
Indian casinos in California employ more than 60,000 people, and profits are funnelled through dividends across Native American communities. The Graton casino underwrites charities in the San Francisco Bay Area and nationally, including scholarships for Native American children, a book fair and food bank. Several tribes have sought to diversify into other businesses, but those plans are typically bankrolled by the casino operations.
Howard Dickstein, a lawyer who negotiated five Indian gaming agreements with the state, known as compacts, says tribal governments vary in their levels of indebtedness and their reliance on gambling for income. For some tribes it was more urgent than others to reopen, Dickstein said.
The New York Times adds, “But for all tribes with casinos, the closure in mid-March, which came after considerable haggling with Newsom, elicited fears that the tribes could lose the financial independence that came with owning a successful business,” and the fear of any one tribe risking essential revenue and going back to pre-casino operations poverty.”
https://www.facebook.com/ViejasCasinoAndResort/videos/892112804639992/?t=35
