More News from I notion Country
Pgge 9 Spilyay Tyrooo
August 8, 2012
Mohegan Sun casinos post lackluster 3Q profit
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)
- The parent company of the
Mohegan Sun casinos in Con
necticut and Pennsylvania
reported last week that third-
quarter profit plunged more
than two-thirds as new casi
nos in the Northeast lured
away gamblers and remaining
customers reduced spending.
The Mohegan Tribal Gam
ing Authority said that net
income for the April-June
period was $9.4 million, down
nearly 68 percent from the
Kickapoo
enacts
water
restrictions
same period last year. Rev
enue of $344.4 million was
down 4.7 percent.
«
Mitchell Grossinger Etess,,
the Indian casinos’ chief ex
ecutive officer, called the re
sults “lackluster.”
He said the financial per
formance suffered in com
parison with last year’s third
quarter, which posted a 150
percent increase in profit. He
also blam ed the weak
economy and rising competi
tion^^—particularly
New
York’s Aqueduct racino— for
declines in profit and revenue.
Etess said Pennsylvania’s
M ohegan Sun at Pocono
D ow ns p erfo rm ed well.
Ground was recently broken
for a hotel and convention
center that he says will boost
profit.
“T h ere’s no doubt bur
third quarter results were
lackluster,” he told investor
analysts and reporters on a
conference call. “Frankly, our
table games are being im
pacted more by Aqueduct
than we anticipated,” he said.
The Genting Group, one
of the world’s largest gam
bling companies, has opened
a gambling parlor at the popu
lar horse track in Queens, one
o f New York’s outer bor
oughs. It’s limited to 4,500
video slot machines and 500
other electronic table games,
but is pulling in millions.
Aqueduct is a short dis
tance from John F. Kennedy
International Airport and mil-
lions of local workers and
residents.
Etess said the Mohegan
Sun did not anticipate what
he called the “acceptance of
non-live table games” as a re
placement for the Mohegan
Sun’s table games in eastern
Connecticut.
“T here may be a tim e
when people are less accept
ing of the video games and
want five table games and
come back here,” he said.
Canoe Journey 2012
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -
The ongoing drought has led
an Indian tribe in northeast
ern Kansas to impose water
co n servation m easures.
Kickapoo Tribal Chairman
Steve Cadue said the order
bans the use o f water for
lawns, gardens, swimming
pools or car washes. Cadue
says the K ickapoo were
forced to haul water to the
reservation several years ago
Tribe has plan
if casino closes
| TA H LEQ U A H ,
Okla.
(AP)' A#United Keetoowah
Band of Cherokees officials
say they have a contingency
plan in place for- employees
if the tribe’s casino is forced
to close. The tribe arid Attor
ney G eneral S cott P ru itt
signed an agreem ent last
month that requires the tribe
to pay $2 million to the state
and secure federal trust sta
tus for land on which the
Keetoowah Cherokee Casino
is located. Casino general
manager Rod Fourkiller said
that if the trust determina
tion is delayed, the facility's
195 employees will be placed
on paid leave.
Donell Frank photo courtesy of the Canoe Family.
The Warm Springs Canoe Family pose for a photo during the journey to Squaxirh.
IR S w id en s probe o f p rofits
Non-gaming business possible at site
MIAMI (AP), - The Inter
nal Revenue Service is broad
ening .its investigation into
whether millions in back taxes
are owed by members of the
Miccosukee tribe.
The Miami-Dade County-
based tribe is asking a federal
judge to block an IRS de
mand for records of gambling
profit distributions between
2006 and 2010. The agency
also wants minutes of tax-re
lated tribal council meetings
dating to 1985.
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - A
federal court won’t stop a
. Narivq American tribe from
building a non-gaming busi
ness on tribal land that was
to be the site of a casino.
U.S. District Judge G re
gory Frizzell issued an order
stating the court has jurisdic
tion over the state o f
Oklahoma’s request to stop
the Kialegee Tribal Town
from building a gaming facil
ity on the land in Broken Ar
The tribe contends as a
sovereign Native American
nation it doesn't have to pay
taxes and accuses the IRS of
harassment. But government
officials say once gambling '
money was paid to individual
tribal members it does be
come subject to federal in
come tax. Past court rulings
sided with the IRS.
At stake are potentially
tens of millions of dollars.
The Miccosukee tribe has
about 600 members.
row, but not over any dispute
relating to the construction of
a restaurant or sports bar at
the site.
Frizzell, issued an injunc
tion that halted construction
of the casino on land allotted
to the Muscogee Nation, of
which the Kialegees are a
branch.
Hundreds
celebrate
rare white
bison
G O SH E N , C on
necticut (AP)—Dozens
of Native Americans
wore the traditional
garb of their ancestors,
sang songs and beat
drums on a western
Connecticut farm Sat
urday in celebration of
the birth of one of the
w o rld ’s , rarest an i
mals— a whitê bison:
The miracle calf
was officially named
Yellow
M edicine
D ancing Boy at the
elaborate ceremony at
the M ohawk Bison
farm in Goshen in the
state’s northw estern
hills. It was born June
16 at the farm o f
f o u r t h - g e n e r a tio n
farmer Peter Fay.
Many '
N ative
A m ericans to n sid er
white bison a symbol
o f hope and unity;
some consider their
births sacred events.
Experts say white bi
son are as rare as one
in 10 million.
Yellow M edicine
Dancing Boy is not an
albino, and Fay said
D N A testing c o n
firm ed the anim al’s
bloodlines are pure and
there was no intermin
gling with cattle.
Lakota tribe mem
bers from South Da
kota were among the
hundreds of people
who gathered at the
célébration. O th er
tribal elders from the
Mohawk, Seneca and
Cayuga tribes partici
pated.
Mont, tribe to pay half of settlement to members
i p t o , Mpjit.
-
C onfederated Salish and
Kootenai Tribes leaders have
decided to distribute about
half of a $150 million settle^
ment with the U.S. govern
ment over misrnanaged land
royalties to enrolled tribal
members, while keeping the
other half for future pro
grams.
Tribal spokesman Robert
McDonald said recent public
meetings dealing with the is
sue have identified four pro-
grarii priorities— providing
for elders, preserving lan
guage, cultural programs and
economic development.
“There’smo timeline, but
it is clearly a topic they are
investing
tim e
in to ,”
McDonald said.
The council decided last
week to give each of the es
timated 7,800 enrolled tribal
members $10,000. If the de
cision isn’t reversed, the dis
tribution would take place on
Sept. 12.
Some Salish and Kootenai
members wanted the entire
$150 million distributed, say
ing it would help alleviate
homelessness and extreme
poverty on the western Mon
tana reservation.
“The tribal council has
been holding com m unity
meetings for weeks in which
H ig h 2S
Lookee
Loa
Assisted Living Pacilifaj
a majority of the people had
voiced their favor of the 100
percent payout,” said tribal
member Ramona Cajune.
Gajune said opponents of
the council’s decision plan to
picket in Pablo.
The $150 million allocated
to- the w estern M ontana
tribes is the second-largest
amount allocated to a Native
American reservation in the
$1 billion government settle
m ent w ith 44 tribes an
nounced this spring. The larg
est settlement is $193 million
to the Confederated Tribes
of the Colville Reservation in
Washington.
The agreement is meant to
settle claims of money lost in
mismanaged accounts and
royalties from natural re
source developm ent. The
tribes’ lawsuits dealt with
tribal trust funds, not indi
vidual trust funds, which are
addressed in a $3.4 billion
class-action settlement led by
Elouise Cobell, a Blackfeet
woman who died last’ year.
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