Casino stimulates economy

September 1

Just six years ago in Kansas, most of the roads at the Potawatomi reservation north of Topeka were either dirt or gravel. The unemployment rate in Jackson County was high, and there wasn't much reason for anyone living outside the county to even think about trying to find jobs there.

Build a casino and you've got a new local economy stimulated.

Now the state's No. 2 tourist attraction, Harrah's Prairie Band Casino has brought new life into a community where three out of every four members of the tribe virtually had no job two decades ago.

With a work force of more than 1,050, the casino and adjacent hotel had an annual payroll last year of $23 million, and officials believe that will exceed $26 million next year.

The recently completed $55 million expansion of the casino and hotel facilities added 100 jobs.

The average salary is $14 an hour, and 75 percent of the employees are full time. The county's jobless rate has shrunk to 6.4 percent, and 2000 census figures show 1,400 people commute into the county to work, compared with 400 in 1990.

Of the 4,900 members of the tribe, more than 100 work in the casino and hotel -- including 40 hired within the past year.

The casino is the county's biggest employer, followed by the tribal government with 325 employees.

Zach Pahmahmie, chairman of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, said proceeds from the casino have funded such community resources as the Elder Center, fire department, police department, buffalo herd and Prairie People's Park.

Gambling profits also have been used to help the tribe's members earn undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees, Pahmahmie said.