Standing Rock casino hopes to win back gamblers scared off by protests

At this point, the Standing Rock Sioux could use fewer Dakota Access pipeline protesters in the camps and more high-rollers at the reservation casino.

The tribe’s Prairie Knights Casino & Resort reportedly has taken a $6 million hit amid the turmoil stemming from the protests, thanks in part to agitators who blocked roads, forced the closure of the Backwater Bridge after setting it on fire and left tons of garbage in their wake.

LaRoy Kingsley, spokesman for the reservation casino in Yates, North Dakota, said this week that the venue has undertaken a public relations campaign to lure patrons put off by months of upheaval and clashes with law enforcement.

“There’s absolutely no doubt that the protests and the closing of the bridge have had a significant impact on people’s ability to get to the casino and just their comfort level driving down,” Mr. Kingsley told WDAY-AM host Rob Port.

At the same time, other factors have played a part in the casino’s run of bad luck, including the economy and the weather.

“Our ag economy kind of slipped there last fall, we had the energy industry really dialing down, and then we ran into one of the worst December-January two-month periods as far as weather goes in many, many years,” Mr. Kingsley said. “They’ve really kind of run into a perfect storm situation with all of those things coming together at the same time.”

The Teton Times, a tribal newspaper, reported last week that Prairie Knights revenue dropped from $14 million in 2015 to $8 million in 2016, a devastating shortfall for a tribe whose casino earnings represent the largest chunk of the budget and fund badly needed social programs.

The tribal council has stepped in with $3.2 million from its Dakota Access fundraising, but that’s “only going to get us so far,” tribal CFO Jerome Long Bottom told The Bismarck Tribune.

“It’s like it’s fallen off a cliff,” Mr. Long Bottom said. “When the bridge was shut off, the numbers just plummeted.”

If the casino is losing money, environmentalists say don’t blame them — blame those behind the $3.8 billion pipeline.

Christopher J. Herrera, spokesman for the Rainforest Action Network, said culpability lies with the oil companies, banks and others working to bring online the 1,172-mile, four-state project, “not with those trying to correct it.”

The thousands of protesters who descended on the area did so “in direct response to an attack on the Tribe’s rights, water and way of life,” he said in an email.

“The fact that casino management have allegedly cited activities by protesters does not in any way negate the reason for the protesters’ presence — which is the assault on human rights, the violation of Indigenous rights, the direct threat to clean water, the desecration of sacred lands,” Mr. Herrera said.

In this case, the drop in casino business is outweighed by the long-term threat of an oil pipeline, said Jade Begay, spokeswoman for the Indigenous Environmental Network.

“We need to look at the bigger picture here,” Ms. Begay said. “Yes, this is a short-term consequence, but we’re not thinking about the short-term. That’s the kind of colonized mindset we’re trying to get away from. This hit the casino has taken is short-term — that’s not as important as the water and future generations.”

The gaming downturn comes as an unexpected byproduct of the lengthy pipeline protest, which became an international cause celebre after kicking into high gear in August with the arrival of thousands to the makeshift camps near Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

After months of protests and 700 arrests, the pipeline is expected to be completed by May 1 after securing a federal easement for the final 1,100-foot section under Lake Oahe. Tribal opponents seeking to derail the project are scheduled to appear Thursday in federal court.

Reaching the casino has been made more difficult by road and bridge closures, but resentment over the disruption caused by the protests has fueled an anti-casino backlash among some of those living nearby in Bismarck and Mandan.

A Facebook page launched in November, Boycott Prairie Knights Casino at Standing Rock, cited the $33 million cost to taxpayers in additional law enforcement costs. Local residents have also been inconvenienced by protest-driven school and road closures, while activists have been blamed for incidents of vandalism and livestock deaths.

“Let’s fight back against Standing Rock. Do not patronize their casino. Hit them in the pocketbook where it counts,” says the page, which has 1,357 followers.

The casino wound up sheltering activists who sought refuge from an early December blizzard, some of whom slept in sleeping bags in the common areas. The resort won praise for pitching in, but the episode also led to concerns about the resort’s safety and hygiene.

Several Facebook commenters said they have switched to the resorts in Deadwood, South Dakota, as well as the 4 Bears Casino & Lodge in New Town, North Dakota, which is owned by the Three Affiliated Tribes.

“Jane Fonda & her cronies can come gamble and spend money there. I ain’t gonna,” said Nikki Brown in a Jan. 24 post.

Word of the casino’s troubles prompted leaders at the Oceti Sakowin camp to urge activists to “not damage our brothers, sisters, and neighbors in our efforts to stop a pipeline.”

“The casino has lost a million dollars a month due to the inconvenience to the customer base up North who traveled regularly 30 minutes to gamble,” said the Oceti Sakowin in a Jan 24 post. “Very few of the Water Protectors have been gambling. The casino is one of the primary means for funding essential community programs like Running Start, schools, Elder programs, Tribal infrastructure.”

Craig Stevens, spokesman for the pro-pipeline Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now Coalition, said “everyone is looking for life to return to normal.”

“Unfortunately, the tribe is now realizing some of the unintended consequences of staging this prolonged protest,” said Mr. Stevens. “Out-of-state protesters left their garbage behind, wouldn’t obey simple requests from the casino to respect patrons and left the area generally worse off than they found it.”

The end may be in sight. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has set a 2 p.m. Wednesday deadline for the few hundred remaining at the camps on federal land to evacuate, citing the imminent flooding danger.

Even so, some protesters have called for making a “last stand,” despite tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II’s repeated requests for the protesters to leave.

“It’s kind of like if you invite your relatives for Christmas, your in-laws, and you’re thinking they’re going to stay a couple days, and a week later they’re still there,” Mr. Kingsley said. “It’s like, ’Yeah, I invited you, that’s great, we did our fun, and now that’s over.’”

Mr. Kingsley, president of the marketing firm KK Bold, which represents the casino, acknowledged the frustration over the protests, but said he was confident customers from the Bismarck-Mandan area would return once the pipeline issue is resolved.

“You just are hearing the angry ones. Yes, there’s a lot of people that are upset, a lot of people that are angry over the deal, but it’s like anything,” Mr. Kingsley said.

“Over time, as they come back and they test the product, and they see that, ’Wow, it really is nice and clean here, and wow, I can get a great meal and entertainment is top-notch,” he said. “And they realize when they see the faces of the people who have worked there for five, 10, 20 years that they’ve seen over and over again, these people are really going to be glad to see the regulars start coming back again.”