Like Mississippi’s Choctaw Band, Native Americans seeking ways to expand economic foundation

Matt Moore

Monday, Feb. 21, 2000 | 8:53 a.m.

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. - On the reservation that is home to the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, the Silver Star Resort and Casino looms high into the night sky, its lights beckoning.

The casino, an island of entertainment in a sea of rolling hills and woodlands, has been the fulcrum of growth for the Choctaw Indians.

Like other tribes across the country, the gaming house has proffered economic prosperity and, what is more important, has given the Choctaws freedom to chart the Band's own economic course.

In the past six months, the tribe has assumed full management of the resort in rural Neshoba County about 60 miles northeast of Jackson.

"Full operational and management controls are necessary for the tribe to guide its resort and leisure development into the future," says Chief Phillip Martin. "This action by the tribe will provide new opportunities as the expansion of the Silver Star Resort and Casino brings in greater economic opportunities for the tribe and east-central Mississippi."

The casino, however, is only the most visible economic endeavor of the tribe.

Since the early 1990s, more than 1,400 jobs have been created by Choctaw Band, thanks in large part to the introduction of its Chata Enterprise, which includes the production of greeting cards, electronics and other manufacturing services.

Today, the Mississippi Choctaws employ more than 6,000 people and generate more than $123 million annually in wages.

The Band's success is becoming a blue print of sorts for other Native American tribes across the country.

In Hattiesburg earlier this month, the University of Southern Mississippi staged a four-day conference that focused entirely on economic development on Indian reservations. The Choctaw Nation was its main example of success.

More than 30 representatives from nine states attended the conference.

"It gives us a chance to see what our competitors are doing," said Dave Anthony, a representative of the Potawatomi Nation in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. "The outline for the conference (was) very good, very intriguing."

Lowell Goodman, owner of the consulting firm The Goodman Group Inc., said the Choctaws have one thing that other tribes lack - continuity of leadership.

"The Choctaws have a very long-term government and there's a lot of continuity ... as a result, they can start a project and can see it through fruition," Goodman said. "Most tribes have an election and they bring in a new group and they throw everybody out that was there and have to start all over again.

"Then they get started and two years later there's another election and they're gone."

Goodman says its the Choctaws' continuity that has enabled them to become an economic development giant.

Where other tribes experiment with pursuits, the Choctaws research projects thoroughly, noting every aspect, including how it could fail and how it could succeed.

And they invest off the reservation, too.

"If you can tap into a large source of capital and you have good management and a good tribal government then it becomes successful," Goodman said.

The Choctaws have operations that include plastics manufacturing, printing and publishing, as well as gaming.

By being diversified, they've spread out the risk of day-to-day operating expenses and pitfalls.

As an example, when the Band built the Silver Star in 1994, it chose Boyd Gaming Corp. of Las Vegas to manage the facility and handle the day-to-day operations of the state's only land-base casino.

In October, the Choctaws bought out the management contract from Boyd for $72 million, nearly two years before its contract was due to expire.

Goodman said that's an example of how the Choctaws maintain their businesses and operate them efficiently.

"They will work with outside industries and they will partner with them, but the bylaws say they have to own 51 percent. The Choctaws allow the other entity to manage it because they know they know how to do it."

This approach has other tribes taking notes.

"I do work on a lot of reservations around the country and the one thing that is common is that everybody knows Chief Martin of the Choctaws and they are all aware of the Choctaws," he said.