La Crosse Tribune: Gaming paying off for Ho-Chunk

Tribal elder Tom Hopinkah says members of the Ho-Chunk Nation have better living conditions and more opportunities, thanks to casinos the tribe has opened since 1992 and its diversification into other businesses.

"Indian gaming has provided us an opportunity to have a better way of life, other than existing in a tar-paper shack and with salt pork and potatoes for our main diet," the 71-yearold rural Tomah, Wis., man said.

The nation opened Majestic Pines Casino near Black River Falls, Wis., in 1992. it also has opened the Ho-Chunk Casino between Wisconsin Dells and Baraboo, Wis., and Rainbow Casino near Nekoosa, Wis.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, median income for HoChunk families in Wisconsin increased from $20,846 in 1990 to $31,250 in 2000; the numbers were adjusted for inflation.

At the same time, the percentage of Ho-Chunk families living in poverty as calculated by the Census Bureau decreased from 23.1 percent to 18.6 percent.

"I think it has helped the Indians, (who were) suppressed, oppressed, lack of work and everything," Hopinkah said of gaming. "It has afforded us a tool and device to better ourselves."

Ho-Chunk gaming also has benefited non-Indian people by providing many jobs at casinos and by spurring nearby commercial and residential developments, Hopinkah said.

Proud of his father

Hopinkah was raised in the Tomah area and was a young child during the Great Depression of the 1930s. His father was a laborer, and Hopinkah had five sisters and two brothers.

"Fie afforded us (the opportunity) to graduate from high school if we wanted to, even back during the years of the Depression," Hopinkah said. "I always had a great pride when it came to talking about my old man, because he was a (hard) worker.

"And a lot of people today judge Indians as 'They're not workers, and on payday they go Out and get drunk and can't do their work,' " Hopinkah said. "And when you label Indians in a stereotypical manner, that hurts them. And some people enjoy (making such comments.) But we've got a lot of talented Ho-Chunk."

After serving in the Navy, Hopinkah was a journeyman steamfitter (working on heating and air-conditioning equipment) for 32 years, and for about 10 years worked in the engineering department at the Veterans Administration hospital in Tomah. He and his wife, Lera, have two children.

Per-capita payments

Part of the tribe's casino profits go to its 6,300 members in the form of per-capita payments.

In an interview a week ago, Ho-Chunk President George Lewis declined to comment on the dollar amount of the payments.

Last December, an Associated Press story quoted a Ho-Chunk spokesman as saying tribal members older than 18 receive monthly payments of $1,000 from gambling proceeds. Percapita payments for minors go into a trust fund and aren't available to that person until he or she reaches age 18 with a high school diploma, or reaches age 25 without a diploma.

Tribal members use the money to help support their families, and some have used the money to start their own small businesses. The money is subject to state and federal income taxes.

Some poverty remains

But there are still pockets of poverty among tribal members.

One reason is the lifestyle of some people, Hopinkah said. "If you were subjected to a good education from day one, then you'd have a different insight."

Also, he said, some parents haven't done enough to guide, teach and talk with their children.

Some people don't spend their money wisely, and some have drug or alcohol problems, Hopinkah said.

"It's the same as any other community," Lewis said. "We take care of our own. But we do have social problems which causes (poverty). A person can't live on (just) that amount of money - the per capita," he said.

Spending profits

The tribe has used its prof:its, averaging about $130 million a year in the past few years, for such things as percapita payments to tribal members, expanding its gaming locations, diversifying into other businesses, and on housing, medical, education, social service and business development programs for members.

In the past decade, Lewis said, some of the money has been used to build about 800 homes that tribal members can rent or buy. Some has been spent to build a new HoChunk medical clinic near Black River Falls, and for a new clinic and health facility in Wisconsin Dells.

The Ho-ChLink also operate DeJope Bingo Hall in Madison, and three hotels - two in the Dells and one at Majestic Pines Casino. And the tribe owns Crockett's Resort and RV Park in the Wisconsin Dells area. It also owns Whitetail Crossing convenience stores.

Most recently, the tribe opened the six-screen HoChunk Cinema movie theater complex in Tomah last December and opened its Whitetail Crossing Casino near Tomah on June 28.

Allocating the money

A Ho-Chunk ordinance, established under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, calls for the tribe to allocate 13.68 percent of its gaming revenues for tribal government operations and programs.

Another 78.26 percent is earmarked to provide for the general welfare of the nation, such as per-capita payments, education administration, tribal scholarships, community education support, Head Start support and buildings, new homes, the health department and the tribal aging unit.

Another 7.48 percent is to be earmarked for promoting tribal economic development.

The ordinance calls for 0.3 percent to go toward charitable contributions and for 0.28 percent to fund local government services.

Last September, the tribe presented the Black River Memorial Hospital with a $200,000 check, the first annual installment in a $1 million donation toward a $15 million hospital capital improvement project.

Providing jobs

The Ho-Chunk Nation employs about 3,400 people in Wisconsin, Lewis said. Of those, about 27 percent are HoChunk or other American Indians.

"The wages we pay stay within the communities," Lewis said. "The employees spend the money in the local market."

By providing jobs, the tribe has reduced unemployment and poverty among both tribal members and non-members alike, lie said.

The Ho-Chunk Nation is the largest employer in Jackson County, where it has an annual payroll of $16.9 million.

Local governmental units benefit by making agreements for such things as providing the tribe with police and fire protection, Lewis said.

"Our nation has accomplished a lot of things," Lewis said. fie is especially proud of the language culture program, which helps young and old learn the tribe's language. "If we lose our language, we are losing our culture," Lewis said.

President since 2003

Lewis, who was sworn in as president in July 2003, automatically became a tribal elder when he celebrated his 60th birthday this year.

He was raised between Black River Falls and Merrillan, Wis. He was the youngest of nine children, and his parents worked for farmers in the area. His father died when he was 6, and his mother then had to raise the children by herself. Lewis, a former personnel director and former legislator for the nation, was employed by the Jackson County Highway Department for 28 years. He also is retired from the Wisconsin National Guard. He has a bachelor's degree in public administration,

Unevenly spread

The past decade of tribal gambling has spread the wealth unevenly among Wisconsin's 11 American Indian reservations.

The Potawatomi, Oneida and Ho-Chunk tribes' gaming operations bring in far more revenue than the other tribes' operations.

"Obviously it's about location," said Larry Nesper, assistant professor of anthropology and American Indian studies at the University of WisconsinMadison. "The tribes in the north (generally) don't have as big a market.

"I think gaming in general has been very positive for a lot of Indian people," Nesper said. "It's a source of income. It's a source of employment. Tribes have been able to spend money on housing, on social programs and to improve infrastructure."