Iowa Tribal Casino Closes After Regulation Violations

Council members of the Omaha Tribe decided to close a casino operating in Iowa after the gaming venue received regulatory citations and declining business.

While the state of Iowa is looking to expand its seventeen state-licensed casinos to twenty-one, the number of tribal casinos in the state just declined by one, at least temporarily. The Omaha Tribe of Nebraska shut down the CasinOmaha near Onawa, Iowa, after federal regulators cited it for violations.

Jim Hunt, general manager of the casino, told the Iowa Journal-Star that the decision to shutter the gambling venue was due as much to a recommendation by the National Indian Gaming Council to do so as to what he called "current business conditions." The recommendation by the oversight agency came after a series of unspecified violations of commission operating procedures, although Hunt claims the problems are in the past.

“We’ve had a couple violations with that organization, and we’ve corrected them,” he said.

According to Hunt, the tribe is planning on reopening within six weeks, but in the meantime 205 workers have been laid off, including a large number of tribal members.

Angry employees gathered in Macy, Nebraska, where the tribe is based, to protest the decision. Tribal members promised to circulate a petition demanding the tribal council not be paid salaries while the casino is closed.

Hunt says the tribe wants to upgrade the casino, including replacing its 430 slot machines with coinless slots that use ticketing systems similar to most casinos today.