A non-gambling entity owned by the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, also in Michigan, is now selling “NativeWahl” burger franchises to other tribes after forming a 2021 partnership with Wahlburgers, the national burger chain created by the celebrity brothers Paul, Mark and Donnie Wahlberg. In Michigan, the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, or Gun Lake Tribe, recently announced a 25-year plan to develop hundreds of acres near its casino into a corridor with housing, retail, manufacturing and a new 15-story hotel. Tribal leaders and tribal business experts say the global pandemic has been the latest and clearest sign that tribal governments with casinos can’t depend solely on slot machines and poker rooms to support future generations.
The 1,000-member tribe has since expanded its efforts to get into the federal government contracting business, making it one of several tribal nations to look beyond the casino business more seriously after the coronavirus crisis. “The fact that the casino revenues went from millions to zero overnight just fully reiterated the need for diverse revenue streams,” said Tribal Chairman Rodney Butler. (AP) - When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut for three months in 2020, its owners, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, had to reckon with decades of relying heavily on gambling as the tribe’s main source of revenue.
