Omaha Tribe closes casino
By Elizabeth Ahlin
Omaha World-Herald, Neb.
(MCT)
Employees of a tribal casino in Onawa, Iowa, showed up to work Tuesday, only to be told that their jobs were history.
About 185 people were laid off, and the Omaha Tribe-owned CasinOmaha has closed, at least temporarily.
The closing is an effort to save the business, casino general manager Jim Hunt said.
''We have not been running this business as profitably as it could have been," Hunt said.
When that message was delivered to tribal members and casino employees at a community meeting in Macy, Neb., the reaction was frustration and anger, said Macy resident Darren Wolfe. The tribe is based in Macy.
People asked the Tribal Council to explain how things got so bad. Some in the audience asked council members to forgo their salaries until the matter is resolved, Wolfe said.
The Tribal Council recently made changes at the casino in an effort to turn things around. Six weeks ago, Hunt was hired to run the facility. Hunt previously worked for Native American casinos in Oklahoma as well as at Harrah's Entertainment.
''We haven't always had the best management before," Hunt said.
Since Hunt was hired, tribal members and casino management have met twice with officials from the National Indian Gaming Commission, the federal regulatory body for Native American casinos, Hunt said.
''They had some recommendations for us to close down, to restart the business," said Hunt. "We think that's a good idea. We're going forward voluntarily."
The commission did not order the closing of the facility, said Shawn Pensoneau of the National Indian Gaming Commission.
But records show that the commission had cited CasinOmaha for compliance problems.
In November, the commission notified the Omaha Tribe that the casino had neglected to submit required quarterly statements and fees for the first three quarters of 2008.
The Omaha Tribe reached a settlement with the commission in December. The tribe agreed to pay a fine of $40,000, submit all overdue quarterly statements and turn subsequent quarterly statements in on time.
But the tribe did not submit its March 31 quarterly statement on time, and the settlement "didn't hold together," said Russ Brien, attorney for the Omaha Tribe.
Combined with consistent cash losses, that made closing the casino a good solution.
''For the past year, they've been losing money on a daily basis. So they're actually stopping the bleeding right now," said Brien.
That's cold comfort to the people who were laid off, said Alison Harlan of Macy. Her son, Jaren Thomas, was a casino employee.
''Now he has to go job hunting," said Harlan. "It'll be pretty hard on everybody."
The closing capped off weeks of rumors floating around Macy about the casino's future.
''We'd been hearing rumors about it, but there's always rumors going around here," said Lois Wolfe, who works at Jump's Food Barn in Macy. "It's going to make things tougher."
CasinOmaha is about 60 miles north of Omaha and about 30 miles south of Sioux City, Iowa.
Hunt announced plans to renovate the casino and reopen with a more modern facility.
The 17-year-old casino hasn't seen many physical improvements over the years, he said, and needs to be updated to compete with other gambling facilities.
The casino currently has 430 slot machines, eight games and a restaurant. Renovation plans include a coinless slot machine system and improved food service.
''We are certain to reopen with a much improved casino," Hunt said.