Arizona Indian Casinos Hit Big Jackpot

Gamblers plunked more than $7.6 billion into Arizona's tribal casino slot machines, video poker and blackjack games last year, according to new figures released today.

That translates into nearly $2,000 for every person of legal gambling age in Arizona.

Figuring out what real people actually spend, and how much they lose, is a little more difficult. Many Arizonans don't visit Indian casinos, and the figures also include tourists' spending.

The $7.6 billion represents what was wagered, which includes people recycling some of their winnings.

The bottom line, though, is gamblers are putting their coins and bills into Arizona's tribal casinos at the rate of about $875,000 an hour around the clock.

Fifteen American Indian tribes operate a total of 22 casinos in Arizona. In the greater Tucson area, the Tohono O'odham and Pascua Yaqui tribes run four casinos.

One Tucsonan said that while the amount of money going to casinos surprised him, he doesn't mind if it goes to benefit tribal members.

The average person wouldn't shell out $2,000 of his own income to pay for civic improvements such as new schools and teachers, said Randy Accetta, who works at the University of Arizona's Eller College of Management.

"Some good things are coming out of it," Accetta said, adding that $7.6 billion is still a lot of money. "Someone's got deep pockets somewhere."

Accetta, 41, said he visits local casinos about 12 times a year, sticking to the blackjack tables. During each session, he'll gamble $100 to $150.

While the amount Accetta spends each year might seem like a lot to some, he said it's a recreational hobby akin to golf or seeing movies. "You win and have fun," he said.

Daniel West said he plays the poker tables twice a week, wagering between $150 and $200 during that time. He usually loses about half of his money, he said.

But West, 23, said he's never lost $2,000 in a year, adding that the per capita amount spent in Arizona is surprising.

The new figures on spending at Arizona's casinos are derived from a report prepared by tribal gambling expert Alan Meister, an economist at the Analysis Group.

Meister, who has studied the industry for years, said gambling revenues at Indian casinos in Arizona last year topped $1.5 billion. That is up nearly 26 percent from 2003.

That figure represents what the gamblers left behind when they went home. It includes what tribes got to keep after paying out winnings, but before they paid their costs.

But the compacts Arizona has with the tribes lets them keep no more than 20 percent of what is wagered. In some cases, they can keep only 17 percent.

That means the total amount actually wagered is five times that figure or more.

Casinos in the Phoenix metropolitan area probably have higher payouts "just because of competition," said William Thompson, a professor of public administration at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

Nationwide, among people who gamble, the average loss is about $700 a year, he said.

The sharp year-over-year increase in Arizona tribal gambling propelled the state up one spot, to the third-highest casino revenues in the nation. Only tribal casinos in California and Connecticut had higher revenues.

Some of that increase is due to the additional opportunities to gamble at reservation casinos in Arizona. A 2002 voter-approved initiative gave tribes the right to have more gambling machines and to begin offering table games such as blackjack. Tribes installed the extra machines in 2003. That makes the 2004 numbers reflective of a full year of operating the 12,014 devices the Arizona Gaming Department says it has authorized.

But the number of additional machines is nowhere close to that 26 percent increase in revenues.

One reason for the increasing popularity: Meister said tribes have improved their operations, adding non-gambling amenities such as hotels and restaurants.

The gambling revenue has done more than help the tribes: That 2002 initiative requires casinos to share between 1 percent and 8 percent of their revenues with the state.

In the last 12 months of reporting, Arizona collected about $65 million. An additional $9 million was doled out to cities and counties.