Why is bingo being cut to two days a week?
Why is the buffet being cut to two days a week?
Why is the gift shop closing?
Why are table games being cut down to 4 tables?
Why is our employee workforce cut way down?
Why has the entire entertainment budget been trashed?
Why are jackpot amounts being lowered on slot machines?
These are all things that our people have grown to appreciate at our casino. Without these things we might as well call LCO Casino what it is really becoming…a glorified Grindstone Creek (filled with slot machines), especially since they lowered the age to 18. These parts of our casino have endured through all these years but now they have to be sacrificed. Why now? Is to pay for Lee’s entourage of high-priced assistants?
In my opinion, the entire upper management that has been brought on since Lee began should be disbanded. This alone would save over half-a-million dollars per year. The casino manager needs to step it up and do the job he was hired to do instead of hiring high-priced help that hasn’t done anything to improve our casino operation. All they have done is assist him in putting the axe to our tribal member workforce, under the disguise of drug testing.
That casino belongs to us, the members of this tribe. It’s not Lee’s personal project. He is eliminating a tribal member workforce in favor of a non-tribal. He is eliminating a tribal member customer base in favor of a non-tribal. I did a walk through the other day, Tuesday to be exact, and I saw very few tribal members in the casino. I used to see a lot more. Maybe that’s the end game, who knows.
Our chairman continues to defend the policies Lee has put in place. While Lee is chanting in our left ear that the casino revenues are consistently increasing since he has been there, Mic is in the other ear reminding us all how much the economy is down and it’s affecting gaming nationwide. Which is it? Are we suffering from a poor gaming economy or are revenues increasing? If we are doing so well, why does Mic keep reminding us that our numbers are down because of the economy?
I’ll tell ya why…because he knows the numbers just aren’t there. Mic actually compared our operation to Mole Lake at the membership meeting. He said they have no table games. Take a look at their geographical location. In more than 20 years of gaming, everyone knew Mole Lake was the most unfortunate tribe of all Wisconsin tribes, but now we are on the same level. Damn, that’s outrageous! Trust me folks, the economy isn’t any worse now than it was 8 years ago when we entered a recession. If anything, it’s improved some. He claims that gaming is suffering and mentioned the other poorest tribe in Wisconsin, Red Cliff. Then he brings up St. Croix, who are not suffering at the gaming level. If there are any problems at St. Croix, it’s due to tribal council administration of the tribe, not the casino revenues. He also used the fact that four casinos were closed down in Atlantic City, but what he fails to mention is that four casinos were also built in recent years there. So, basically, gaming peaked in Atlantic City and couldn’t sustain any new operations and that’s why the four casinos closed down, not because the economy.
I strongly urge members to take action today. Contact your council members and let them know they need to override these horrible decisions being made by casino management. The future of our tribe rests on them. Sure, Lee is directly responsible for what happens when the layoffs and cut backs begin, but the tribal council is responsible because they hired him…and they had the chance to right their wrongs, but they chose to extend his contract, despite how low morale is.
There are many people upset right now, this includes workers and patrons (both tribal member and non-tribal), with the direction our casino is headed. It’s not too late to stop the descent, but this won’t happen unless you all take action and let them know you won’t forget it!
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