The cost to build the two hotel-casino operations totaled $455 million, much of which originally came from tax-exempt bonds; a later IRS ruling, however, forced the tribe to refinance with taxable bonds. Cordish estimated first-year revenues at $436 million, of which it would take $130 million, or 30 percent, as a fee. Under the terms of the deal, Cordish would continue to receive this cut for 10 years.

THE SEMINOLES opened their Hard Rock hotel-casino in Hollywood, Fla., in 2004. (Photograph by Robert Kippenberger.)

With bingo-based slot machines in place, the Tampa casino opened in the spring of 2003. The Hollywood casino followed a year later. Although tribes do not disclose financial information, several published sources claim that these properties now generate roughly $1 billion in revenue annually, far more than expected—which meant Cordish’s share also rose substantially.

The Seminoles terminated their agreement with Cordish last year, and filed suit alleging that the company violated Indian gaming law with unfair contracts. Cordish claimed that the agreement was viable, and countersued, claiming that Rank, which was working with the Seminoles, gave Cordish’s own bid to buy the Hard Rock short shrift. Cordish and the tribe dropped their suits against each other in April. Settlement details were not released, but it has been reported that the tribe will pay $756 million to Cordish over 22 years.

This type of aggressive growth and diversification is now common among the successful gaming tribes. "They’re becoming ever-more business savvy," says Robert Jarvis, professor at Nova Southeastern University Law Center in Fort Lauderdale. The Foxwoods casino of Connecticut’s Mashantucket Pequot tribe reached an agreement in 2006 to lease the MGM brand name from MGM Mirage. It will create a new themed hotel-casino that will be built next to the existing casino. The new resort will include a ballroom and concert theater. The tribe has also successfully bid for one of five licenses to construct a venue for slot machines in the Philadelphia area. "We were competing against some of the giants in the commercial gaming world," Foxwoods president John O’Brien boasts.

Mohegan Sun, in Uncasville, Conn., is already one of the largest casino complexes in the world with 300,000 square feet of gaming, and it is in the final phases of a $750 million expansion to create another 1,000 hotel rooms, a new gaming area with a Hong Kong theme, and a bowling and billiard lounge. The tribe also owns the Pocono Downs racetrack in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., a sports arena, a professional women’s basketball franchise and a couple of radio stations. "We’ve left the gaming market a bit," says tribal leader Bruce Bozsum, adding that the tribe receives a steady stream of business offers. "Oil fields, rocket ships, film and television, marketing ideas. We have our hands full."

Jessica Cattelino, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago who has studied the effects of gaming on the Seminole way of life, has tracked changes in Native Americans as they generate wealth. "Diversification is a buzzword in Indian culture today," she says. "Tribes recognize the danger of relying on a central source of income as they try to manage their own economies."