Flandrea Santee Sioux Tribe Wants To Build In Sioux Falls
by Jesse Batson
July 29, 2010
The talk of building a casino in or near Sioux Falls has the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe weighing in on it. They tell KDLT's Jesse Batson they'd be happy to partner with the city and the state in getting a casino off the ground.
The Grand Falls Casino in Lyon County is already being built. While candidate for Governor Scott Heidepriem announced that he'd like to build a casino near Sioux Falls, with revenue helping pay for an events center.
"We're going to do everything in our power, under law, to look at all our options the day after we're elected Governor and Lt. Governor," said Heidepriem.
The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, owners of the Royal River Casino, have been watching, waiting for an invitation to help build in Sioux Falls.
"This would be a win win situation for the state, Sioux Falls, you know, and the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe," said Royal River Casino General Manager Jackie Barse.
If the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe were invited to be part of a casino in Sioux Falls, they say they wouldn't have issues getting the land or constructing the building.
"I know that's something we could get, for sure, would be land," said Barse.
The Royal River casino has 279 employees, but the one in Sioux Falls would be larger scale, able to compete with the Grand Falls Casino in Lyon County.
"It'd bring in over 2,000 jobs," said Barse.
The Royal River Casino is built on tribal land, so the tribe gets 100% of the revenue. If they could build in Sioux Falls, they'd be willing to make a deal with the state like the city of Deadwood.
"The state collects so much per machine from deadwood and we'd be willing to do that," said Barse.
They say the state would also benefit from sales tax, while the paychecks of their 2,000 employees would be going into the Sioux Falls community. They've talked to former Sioux Falls Mayor Dave Munson about building a casino in Sioux Falls, but they would like an invite from Mayor Mike Huether and they'd need permission to build.
"The Governor would have to give us approval," said Barse.
The Royal River casino says they already have a connection to Sioux Falls because they donate money and food to Sioux Falls charities and use Sioux Falls vendors. This October will be the 20th anniversary for the Royal River Casino.
