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American Indian Casino Operations and Adjacent Firm Long-Run Employment and Sales

Author

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  • Aguilar-Bohorquez, Joseph
  • Akee, Randall
  • Mykerezi, Elton

Abstract

American Indian reservations face long-standing barriers to private-sector development. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, which enabled the establishment of casino operations on American Indian tribal lands is one of the most consequential sovereignty-driven, place-based interventions in Native communities. We study its impact on local business revenues and job creation by linking geocoded establishment-level microdata to federally recognized reservation boundaries and a panel of tribal casino openings from 1990 to 2019, using a staggered-adoption event study with never-treated reservation controls. Casino openings lead to economically meaningful and persistent growth in reservation business activity: average establishment sales increase by 47% and employment increases by 50% after opening. Importantly, incumbent establishments also expand, with sales increasing by 17% and employment increasing by 26%, indicating that development benefits extend beyond new entry and beyond the casino itself. When excluding gaming-adjacent industries, employment effects remain positive while sales effects attenuate and are less precisely estimated. Overall, the results provide evidence that tribal casino development leads to sustained private-sector expansion inside reservation boundaries, consistent with local demand, business-to-business spending, and visitor-spending spillovers, and highlight a mechanism through which Indigenous self-determined enterprise can contribute to long-run economic development.

Suggested Citation

  • Aguilar-Bohorquez, Joseph & Akee, Randall & Mykerezi, Elton, 2026. "American Indian Casino Operations and Adjacent Firm Long-Run Employment and Sales," 2026 Annual Meeting, July 26 - 28, 2026, Kansas City, Missouri 404771, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea26:404771
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.404771
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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