Potawatomi annual winnings fall by 28% at Milwaukee casino
The Forest County Potawatomi tribe’s Milwaukee casino won at least $293 million from gamblers in the past 12 months, a figure that was 28% less than what the tribe won in the prior 12month period.
The tribe’s Milwaukee net win for the period ended June 30 is the lowest net win figure for the tribe since 2006, records show. Net win is the amount of cash a casino pockets after paying off winning bets.
“The COVID disaster and the shutdown of the casino have been devastating,” said Jeff Crawford, attorney general for the 1,700-member tribe that owns the Milwaukee casino.
In the previous 12-month period, a fiscal year that ended June 30, 2019, gamblers left at least $406 million on the tables or in the slot machines at the
Potawatomi Hotel and Casino, according to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel calculations based on payments made to the city and county.
The net win is computed after the tribe paid its state fee, which sources said was approximately $25 million. The casino was closed from mid-March to June 8 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The drop in casino winnings to 2006 levels “has resulted in the sudden and rapid loss of revenue to the tribe, causing havoc with our tribal budget and the services we provide to our members and community,” Crawford said.
It has also caused the tribe to stop paying a dividend that sources said had been about $70,000 annually per member.
“If you are retired or disabled or unemployed and those ... dividends go
away you’re going to be in a financial free-fall,” Crawford said.
He noted the tribe has not received much help from the federal government since it looks at a tribe’s population, not its revenue loss, in determining aid.
Like the other tribes in Wisconsin, the Potawatomi depends on its casino revenue to fund much of its government. Services have been slashed and employees laid off as Wisconsin’s 11 tribes deal with the dramatic drop in gambling revenue.
At Potawatomi “every budget for the tribal government has been cut,” Crawford said. “We’re zeroing out every budget and only essential expenditures are being approved. There have been big cuts in health and wellness and there have been cuts across the board.”
The tribe furloughed the bulk of its 2,600 Milwaukee casino employees about a month after it closed the casino. Last month the tribe said it would permanently lay off 1,600 workers, effective this week.
Even though the casino reopened June 8, its revenue remains far below previous levels because it is a much smaller version of its previous self. Table games and bingo are shut down, it is offering a limited number of slot machines and gamblers must make reservations to play.
Most of the other tribal casinos in Wisconsin are taking similar steps, although two — the Bad River tribe’s casino near Ashland and the Sokaogon Chippewa tribe’s Mole Lake Casino near Crandon — have yet to reopen.
The Menominee tribe reopened its casino only to have it, and other services on the reservation, closed from July 30 until Monday. Melissa Cook, the tribe’s intergovernmental affairs manager, said the closures were in response to the increased number of COVID cases in surrounding areas.
“We have many tribal members that come back and forth” from the reservation near Shawano to nearby counties, Cook said. “We were fearful COVID could spread really fast” if the tribe did not take several preventive steps.
Financial figures showing the winnings at each Wisconsin casino are confidential. The Journal Sentinel estimate of the Potawatomi’s winnings is based on the fee that it pays to the city and county.
The drop in Potawatomi revenue is similar to what is being seen at casinos nationwide when they reopened after the shutdowns caused by the pandemic, said Frank Fantini, publisher of Fantini’s Gaming Report.
The tribe paid each government $4.4 million on Monday, or 1.5% of its net win for the period that ended June 30. The tribe paid $6.1 million to each government last year, in accordance with the agreement it reached in 2005.
As a result, the loss in casino revenue also affects the local governments.
“Potawatomi Hotel & Casino is no exception to the economic devastation brought upon businesses of all sizes due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said in a statement. “The decrease in payments to the county reflects the financial crisis we find ourselves in at Milwaukee County and the urgent need for direct and flexible funding to fund critical county services in light of the public health crisis.”