Gambling revenues are on the decline nationwide. And while casinos operated by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians (PCI) — 6,300 slot machines labeled as electronic bingo — deliver more than $600 million a year in gross gaming revenues, according to Global Gaming Business Magazine, the group is looking to expand its businesses.
One business could be growing and selling marijuana.
‘Pot-or-jackpots’ ultimatum
Alabamians are being shown television ads with gentle tones portraying the Native American casinos as good corporate citizens willing to bail out the budget in exchange for exclusive gambling rights statewide. But Floridians are seeing a more aggressive side of the PCI casinos.
PCI tribal leaders threatened in February to grow marijuana on a one-acre plot of land it owns in Escambia County, Florida, if the state doesn’t agree to a compact allowing it to offer gambling at several Florida locations, according to a report by The Florida Times-Union. The threat followed a December decision by the U.S. Department of Justice stating that tribes could grow and sell marijuana on tribal lands in the same manner as states that have legalized it.
PCI has proposed a compact with Florida that would allow for bingo-style slot machines at pari-mutuels along I-10 in Jacksonville, Pensacola and Gretna, a small town near Tallahassee, earning nearly $2 billion for the state in 10 years.
Tribal leaders have characterized the pot-or-jackpots ultimatum as merely a bargaining chip to make Florida Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature take them seriously. So far the governor remains adamantly opposed to the compact, the Times-Union reported, and PCI started building a warehouse on the one-acre Florida property near Atmore.
The Florida acquisition is a recent move following PCI’s previous expansion to Montgomery and Wetumpka and the purchase of the Mobile Greyhound Park.
PCI launched its first gambling enterprise in Alabama — the Creek Bingo Palace in Atmore — in 1985 and then opened the Wind Creek Casino there in 2009. The new casino dramatically altered the rural Escambia County skyline along I-65 with a towering facility including the casino, hotel, casual and fine-dining restaurants and concert venue.
As the tribe continues to pursue compacts with both Alabama and Florida governors to allow for Class III gambling at their facilities in those states, tribal leaders also are working on business ventures that have nothing to do with gambling. Its businesses run by Creek Indian Enterprises Development Authority (CIE) reach from Huntsville to Mobile and into Florida.
PCI’s investments reflect a widespread strategy of Native American tribes to diversify as a hedge against an aging customer base, declining profits, commercial competition and state and federal actions, according to multiple reports in Global Gaming Business Magazine.
Statewide business ventures
Along with 65-percent ownership in the Mobile Greyhound Park, PCI has acquired hotels and other gambling facilities, according to PCI’s website and al.com:
- Town Place Suites at Redstone Gateway, Huntsville — a Marriott TownPlace Suites on 3.1 acres, with rights to build another hotel on the site
- The Westin Lake Mary, Orlando — part ownership in a 14,000-square-foot hotel
- Hyatt Place Pensacola Airport, Pensacola — a $24 million, 127-room hotel built in partnership with Innisfree Hotels
- Pensacola Greyhound Track and Poker Room, Pensacola — pari-mutuel betting and table games
- Creek Entertainment Gretna, Gretna, Florida — joint owner of a Florida Panhandle gambling facility offering pari-mutuel betting and poker
- Blue Collar Country, Foley — PCI owns a small stake in the entertainment project located on 500 acres and reserves the rights to build two hotels on the development
- Holiday Inn Resort, Fort Walton — majority owner of this $25 million, 152-room resort
Other businesses run by CIE range from cattle and catfish to contact lenses and campsites:
- River Oaks Apartments, Wetumpka — a 78-unit apartment community
- Tallapoosa Lakes Golf Course/Lakeside Sports Grill, Montgomery — a 350-acre facility
- Magnolia Branch Wildlife Reserve, Atmore — a 5,000-acre recreation and camping area currently offering RV and primitive campsites, with plans to build a lodge and cabins
- Muskogee Technologies, Atmore — a 90,000-square-foot aerospace manufacturing company that provides government as well as commercial services such as metal fabrication, electronics, warehousing and engineering
- Creek Smoke Shop and Convenience Store, Atmore — an “upscale” convenience store near the entrance to Wind Creek Casino
- Perdido River Farms, Atmore area — manages the tribe’s agricultural properties, including a 13-acre catfish pond and 500 head of cattle
- Premier Family Eyecare, Atmore — open to tribal members and the general public.
For more information on PCI or casino gambling issues in Alabama, visit www.thealabamabaptist.org and search for “gambling.”
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