Gaming officials present tribe with $5 million in 1st payment of casino profits

In a ceremony at the Quality Inn in Window Rock, gaming officials presented a $5 million check to Navajo Nation officials to be used to befit the Navajo people.

Quincy Natay, chairman of the gaming enterprise board, said the check was made possible by an action by the Navajo Nation Council's Budget and Finance Committee to reduce the enterprise's interest payment for tribal loans from 18 to 15 percent.

If this did not happen, the $5 million would still have gone to the tribe but it would have gone as interest for the enterprise's more than $100 million in loans and would have stayed in the tribe's investment account. The enterprise probably would not have been able to distribute profits to the tribe until 2015 or 2016.

As a distribution of gaming profits, the Navajo government can now use the money according to federal gaming laws.

The law gives the tribe a lot of latitude on how to use the funds, from paying for government programs to promoting economic development to providing for the general welfare of its members.

Exactly how the funds will be used is up to the Navajo Nation Council.

Speaker Johnny Naize said he would like to see a portion of the money used for college scholarships.

Gaming enterprise officials said they expect to make annual payments to the Navajo government from now on with the payments expected to get substantially bigger as more casinos, such as the one being built near Flagstaff, open up.

Back to top ^