Casino czar: Opening date by mid-summer
By Bill Donovan
Navajo Times
E-mail this story
With the money issue resolved, tribal gaming officials are now going full steam in their efforts to get the first Navajo casino up and operating.
Bob Winter, director of the tribe's gaming enterprise, said Tuesday that he is now looking at mid-summer opening date for the temporary casino in Church Rock, N.M.
Site work is expected to begin in the next few weeks and the gaming office will begin advertising for an architect in the next week as well. Once the architect is chosen, the gaming enterprise board of directors will start thinking about the design of the temporary facility.
Winter said he also expected discussions to begin soon on naming the casino, which is more important than one may think.
Whatever name is chosen, Winter said, it must have "market capability." In order words, the name must conjure up some image in the average person - Native or non-Native - that has to do with the tribe's identity or culture.
Other tribes, he said, have consulted their elders before choosing a name. He said he expects the Navajo Nation to do the same.
As it gets closer and closer to the actual date for the casino to open, the gaming enterprise plans to hire a human resources director who will be in charge of hiring and training the 100 to 200 people needed to run the casino and restaurant.
"We would like to get people who are experienced," Winter said, but since this will be the first Navajo casino, no one expects to find enough Navajos who are experienced in dealing cards or working in a casino so many of them will have to be trained.
"What we need are people who are trainable," he said, adding that it takes between six and eight weeks to train someone to be a dealer.
He said that timing is important in that the enterprise doesn't want to hire someone too early and have them just suit around waiting for the casino to open so he expects that dealers will start being hired in February or March.
"The casino will be a full entertainment center so we will also be looking at hiring people to work in the restaurant and entertainment areas," he said.
The gaming enterprise board is also beginning to look at three sites in the Gallup area for the permanent casino, which will be a few years down the line.
No actual sites have been made public but Winter said each of the three proposed sites has "issues" that will have to be addressed by the board. This includes access and infrastructure.
All three sites are on trust land near Gallup, he said.