Many people think tribal casinos are a panacea, a ‘license to print money.’ They should read the sad story of the defunct Santa Ysabel Casino. It was damned by many factors, including a poor location, small size and an opening that unfortunately coincided with wildfires in the area. But mainly it was a $50 million debt load that brought the property down. Tribal chairman Virgil Perez tried to shift the blame to “an intransigent county government unwilling to renegotiate its financial agreement with the tribe in the face of economic hardship.” He might have more realistically blamed cost overruns which ate into the promotional budget, for one.
What’s most intriguing is the role of the Yavapai Apache nation, an Arizona tribe which lent money to Santa Ysabel, then bought up its outstanding debt. The Yavapai did the same to the now-defunct La Posta Casino. It’s tempting to speculate what the Yavapai’s larger strategy is, but that’s all it would be.
