The Saskatchewan casino business has become a mature one with slow but steady growth.
That was the view of Zane Hansen, CEO of the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority who spoke at the regular noon luncheon of the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce Thursday.
"We've seen quite a lot of growth the last few years," he said, adding over the same period VLT, bingo and lottery gaming have more, or less held steady.
The overall revenue from gambling sources in Saskatchewan sits at about $730 million, with SIGA facilities accounting for about 35 per cent of that total, offered Hansen.
For the fiscal year 2009-'10 SIGA had revenues of $239 million, growing to $245 million a year later, with the 2011-'12 forecast at $253.
Hansen added this winter has been a good one for the casino business, adding bad weather "really slows our business down," and this has been a moderate winter.
Hansen said when SIGA's casinos do well it certainly ripples through local economies, adding they spend "a little over $30 million just from Saskatchewan-based suppliers."
In Yorkton $1.2 million is paid out annually to suppliers with Yorkton addresses.
SIGA as a non-profit organization also flows through its profits.
Fifty per cent of profits go to 74 First Nations in the provinces, with 25 per cent distributed through Regional Community Development Corporations and the remaining 25 per cent going to the provincial government, said Hansen.
While revenues are important, Hansen said the "longest lasting impact of the organization" is the jobs it creates through its six casinos. The six employ some 2,200 people, 260 in Yorkton.
"It's a corporate mandate to bring people into the labour force from First Nations communities," he said, noting 74 per cent of employees are aboriginal, 68 per cent First Nations and eight per cent Métis. "On the management side that number actually goes up," he added.
Hansen said jobs are critical.
"We always say good economic development means having a job," he said.
The casino jobs account for a combined payroll of nearly $78 million, $10 million at the Painted Hand Casino.
Hansen said the success of the casinos in spinning off to other enterprises. A new companion hotel is being built at Swift Current, and in Yorkton Kahkewistahaw First Nations is in the planning stage for one beside the Painted Hand Casino.
Having casinos, hotels and related elements in a community are a tourism draw, and enhance the offerings in that regard, said Hansen.
"We always say we're very much a people business," he said.
