Choctaws vote Thursday on possible 4th casino

The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians will vote Thursday on whether they want a new casino.

Related: Choctaws expected to vote soon on new casino near Carthage

If approved, it would mark the tribe’s fourth casino. Two casinos, Silver Star and Golden Moon, are in Choctaw in Neshoba County and a third is in Bok Homa in Jones County, 13 miles north of Laurel.

The nearly 11,000-member tribe reopened the Golden Moon full time in 2015, following a $70 million-plus renovation.

Red Water is in Leake County, bordering Carthage on the north.

Choctaw Chief Phyliss J. Anderson had been pushing for the casino for several years. The Tribal Council finally backed her recommendation in January.

She said the new casino will bring in about $50 million in annual revenue, plus provide more than 250 jobs.

Barry McMillan, who successfully pushed for the referendum, opposes the casino because it would cannibalize the two existing casinos in Choctaw, shifting $18 million to Red Water, according to a study done for the tribe.

McMillan, who serves on the Tribal Council, compared the plan for building a new casino just 23 miles away to “robbing Peter to pay Paul” and questioned why the casino is being built in Anderson's hometown.

He said he is worried some jobs at the Choctaw casinos would be lost.

Also read: Mississippi Band of Choctaws chief sues Tribal Council

Anderson acknowledged such cannibalization would take place, but said it would still mean a net gain of $31 million a year for the tribe. She said an independent study showed that Red Water was the best place to locate a new casino.

She denied that any casino jobs would be lost and said this new infusion of millions would actually create jobs the tribe needs.

Over the past two decades, the tribe has grown dramatically, she said.

Back in 1994, the tribe was made up of about 5,200 members. Those numbers have more than doubled since.

“With the growing population and over 50 percent of the population under 25, the need for jobs is there,” Anderson said, “but what this casino will allow us to do is to use those funds to reinvest back into the tribe for government services.”

That includes the tribal scholarship program, which since 1995 has spent $54 million to pay for the college education of tribal members. Last year’s high school valedictorian is now attending Dartmouth College, an Ivy League school.

Anderson said gaming funds have also helped provide for the $50 million health care center, the fire department, the police department and tribal recreation, which includes basketball and softball leagues.

When she arrived in 2011, the tribe had more than $205 million in casino debt. That debt has now been reduced to $155 million, she said.

“Even with all the renovations we have made, and the repairs we’ve made (at the casino) in Bok Homa, we still are reducing our debt,” she said. “It goes back to good management of expenses.”

The tribe is now building 100 new homes, she said. “We haven’t done that in a long time.”

McMillan believes opponents of the new casino have a good shot at winning because there are often less than 3,000 votes cast in a Choctaw election.

Already, he said, 1,700 in the tribe have backed the referendum calling for a vote on the possible casino.

He questioned how fair the election is, pointing to the ballot, which contains a financial analysis that is decidedly pro-casino.

The analysis mentions nothing about the expected cannibalization and says the tribe “has already missed out on potential profits of more than $45 million” for failing to open three years ago.

The analysis says without casino expansion, “less Tribal funding will be available to meet the needs of the growing Choctaw population, putting essential Tribal services and jobs at risk.”

McMillan raised questions about the analysis, and his request to put election observers in place has been rejected by the Tribal Election Committee, which concluded that such observers were only allowed in elections involving candidates.

“We want fairness in the election process, but we keep getting chopped down like trees,” he said.

Anderson responded that the election process has been fair. “I’m here because tribal members put me here,” she said.

She promises to be transparent and always give the tribe the facts, “even if they are bad,” she said. “The majority know I would never do anything harmful to this tribe.”