SUMMER 2002

The Good Neighbor 

The Muckleshoot tribe's gaming enterprises have helped foster good will with local communities.

By Matt Connor

For thousands of years, the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe has performed what it refers to as the Spring Chinook ceremony, when the first salmon to return to their land's fresh-water streams is captured and brought to the Muckleshoot village as an honored guest. After tribal members share the salmon, its remains are ceremoniously returned to the water with the hope, according to the tribe's Web site, "that it would tell its brother and sister salmon of the fine hospitality it received from the Muckleshoot people."

Many centuries after that first ceremony was performed in the Puget Sound of Washington state, the Muckleshoot are still known for their hospitality, playing host to thousands of casino and bingo patrons every weekend. 

"We hope and believe that our non-Indian customers leave our gaming facilities impressed with the professional level of operations, having thoroughly enjoyed themselves and looking forward to returning, whether for the gaming, the food or the entertainment," said Tribal Chairman John Daniels.

Added Melvin Daniels, Muckleshoot Bingo's general manager and brother of the chairman, "What people see when they come here is a high level of professionalism. When they leave, I think they have in their minds that they've just been to a business that was soundly operated."

About 2,000 tribal members live on or near the six-square-mile Muckleshoot reservation in Auburn, between Seattle and Tacoma. Because of its location between two urban centers, the Muckleshoot don't endure the geographic isolation of many other tribes, and non-Indians have been a fairly constant presence at Muckleshoot since the 1800s. 

"Non-Indians were leasing Muckleshoot land in the mid-19th century, because the tribal members back then were allotted parcels of land by the federal government," said a Muckleshoot bingo employee who asked that his name not be used. "Some of them leased their land out to non-Indians. Then when the terms of some of the leases came to the end, the U.S. government did nothing to enforce the leases or help the tribal members remove the lessees from their land. For that reason, some of the non-Indians ended up staying, and we lost a lot of land because of that. That's why, if you drove on the reservation today you'd see both Indians and non-Indians living here."

With the opening of Muckleshoot Bingo in 1985 and the casino 10 years later, contact with non-Indian neighbors became even more pronounced.

"We're in a rather populated area," Melvin Daniels said. "And in the last five years the area has changed a lot with the casino. Muckleshoot is somewhat of a landmark now. You see it pop up in advertisements for other businesses: 'Located near Muckleshoot casino.' Patrons who have never been here before might not even realize they're going on a reservation. In their mind they're going to a place of business as opposed to an Indian reservation."

That's just the way John Daniels likes it, too. The tribal chairman makes a clear distinction between Muckleshoot cultural programs and business opportunities. And while business programs often support cultural activities, the tribe does not expect casino or bingo hall patrons to come away from their gaming experience with a deep-seated knowledge of Muckleshoot history and culture.

"The tribe has used - and will continue to use - the resources from its gaming operations to support, directly and indirectly, many cultural and traditional activities," John Daniels said. "However, the tribe operates its gaming facilities as a business, not a cultural facility, with all proceeds going to support the tribal government. Through the tribal government, support for cultural and traditional activities is maintained."

The business-oriented approach to managing Muckleshoot gaming operations has led to some major changes for its tribal members, said the bingo employee who chose to remain anonymous.

"Like most tribes throughout the country, the Muckleshoot were poor and didn't have much prior to gaming," he said. "They tried hunting, fishing and logging, which has been on the decline in recent years. Like a lot of other tribes they jumped at the opportunity to do gaming as a way to raise some funds. Because our location was a good one, we've been able to do well."

Echoed Chairman Daniels, "Despite the very best efforts put in prior to gaming, the tribe was continually seeing a shortfall in resources to address basic needs. While we have not entirely made up for past deficiencies in these areas, gaming resources - together with dedicated tribal governmental employees - have begun the process of building a brighter future for each tribal member."

That future, Chairman Daniels said, includes new homes, an education and jobs for as many tribal members as possible. "My hopes for where we will be in 10 years would include more diversified job opportunities, an accredited tribal college with education programs benefiting everyone from our youngest to oldest tribal member," said John Daniels. "Hopefully, many of our current efforts for securing hunting trails, maintaining our fresh and salt water quality, and passing along our cultural and traditional identity will be realized."

Additionally, the Muckleshoot are diversifying the reservation economy by launching several other high-profile businesses, including an amphitheater and a retail complex housing seven new businesses. These projects represent only a small part of the construction boom going on at Muckleshoot.

"The tribe has leveraged its resources to add approximately 200 new homes to its housing stock as well as providing seed money to individual tribal members' home purchases," Chairman Daniels said. "A new 45,000-square-foot tribal child care center is set to open its doors in August and additional classrooms have been added to the tribal school, which now handles preschool through 12th grades. The tribe has also pledged $8 million toward the construction of a new tribal school that is currently in the planning stages. The tribe is also adding a 70,000-square-foot health and wellness center, with construction due to start in January 2003 and a tentative opening scheduled for January 2004."

Much of this expansion is directly attributable to the success of Muckleshoot Bingo and Muckleshoot Casino, which offers 1,500 video gaming devices, 70 tables, sports center lounge, off-track betting, five restaurants, and entertainment showroom. While the opening of the bingo hall 17 years ago caused some concern among locals in bordering communities, Chairman Daniels said the tribe's relationship with local municipalities and neighborhoods has improved in recent years.

"The tribe employs nearly 2,300 people - most from the immediate surrounding areas - of which approximately 1,800 are non-tribal," John Daniels pointed out. "While some neighbors expressed concern prior to each facility's opening, skeptics have become believers that the tribe would exceed its promise to be a good and responsible neighbor. As a good neighbor, the tribe has distributed over $3 million to local charities and provided additional millions to mitigate any financial impacts to the surrounding communities' infrastructure. The tribe has mutual response agreements with neighboring fire and police departments and hires off-duty police officers to assist on high- profile events held at the tribal casino."

Added the anonymous bingo employee, "When we started the bingo in 1985, the tribe received some negative feedback from church groups. They said gambling was bad and that it would only lead to corruption. But 17 years later, bingo is still being run successfully and there's no corruption. By the time the casino opened in '95, the tribe had been able to peacefully hash out a lot of issues with the town of Auburn."

Bingo challenges

Located directly across the street from the casino, Muckleshoot Bingo has its own set of challenges to overcome in order to generate significant revenues for tribal programs. Interestingly, the anonymous bingo employee said, the proximity to Muckleshoot Casino is one of the challenges bingo management faces every day.

"Believe it or not, competing with the casino, which is right across the street, is perhaps our biggest challenge," the bingo employee said. "It keeps growing and expanding and it's sometimes difficult for bingo to compete with them. We have to be profitable ourselves, and sometimes our players are drawn over there. It's like having a mini-Las Vegas right near the bingo hall."

The anonymous bingo employee added that the bingo hall offers a variety of Class II electronic devices, including those distributed by Multimedia Games and Rocket Inc. Bingo patrons also use tabletop computer consoles and hand-held devices to play multiple games at once.

Promotional programs include car and truck giveaways, free daubers and comped meals.

"Now we have computerized systems keeping track of our players," Bingo General Manager Daniels said. "We try to dedicate a bit more energy to get customers to come back. A lot of our promotions are based on the customer appreciation model - giveaways or comp meals connected with special promos and holidays."

"An unexpected promotional success for us has been our annual car show," the anonymous bingo employee said. "We get car clubs from California, Oregon, Washington and Canada. They come up here during the month of August. Initially it was started to help the local tribal youth program, but it just ballooned. We now get coverage in all of the car magazines. Entrants get a free pass to play bingo that evening."

Though he doesn't get out to the bingo floor to talk to patrons as much as he would like, Melvin Daniels said he is often pleased by the comments from his long-time customers. Some of his bingo players, Daniels said, have been coming to the property for 12 or 13 years - "longer than I've been here," he said - and have watched the progress the tribe has made to improve the quality of life on the reservation.

"Sometimes they say, 'You've come a long way,' which is good to hear," Melvin Daniels said. "They're taking notice that our people are doing better than they were years ago. In most people's eyes, the gaming is a positive thing."

Added his brother, John, "The most rewarding aspect of my position has been to see people improving themselves, finally able to plan long-term, while enjoying their personal family and community life.

"Ours is a community that is seeing many successes and we have the hope to build on top of each of them." 

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