SBC Summit: Tribes need to be ‘primary benefactors’ of gaming advancements
FanDuel VP of Strategic Partnerships Sequoyah Simermeyer and OIGA Chairman Matthew Morgan spoke on how the Tribal gaming industry continues to advance in 2025.
Key Points
- Simermeyer recounted how gaming became a source of revenue during economic challenges for Tribes, beginning with bingo before eventually offering casino play
- Morgan believes trying to find financial opportunities were made difficult for Tribes due to the scarcity of population in which they were relocated, but have generated revenue streams since the 1980s
During the SBC Summit event in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, many of the Tribal gaming industry’s most noteworthy leaders took part in a panel to discuss the history of gaming’s impact on Tribes, including Chairman of the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association (OIGA) Matthew Morgan.
San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Chairman Jacob Coin was also part of the discussion, highlighting struggles seen in California to properly regulate all forms of gaming on Tribal lands, as “everything (Tribes) are able to do” is dictated by politics.
A common theme for the panel was how Tribes were forced to find economic solutions following past relocation, such as Morgan’s Tribe, the Chickasaw Nation.
“We were from the south east and relocated all the way to Oklahoma. Tribes were specially put where there was just open land and no population to build financial opportunities off of,” Morgan said.
Coin agreed with the OIGA Chairman, having said, “Everything that was done to Native Americans and indigenous lands was done to get rid of them. Whether it be relocation, termination, it was all done to make sure we wouldn’t be around.
“What’s been the success? Any time Tribes had something of value, someone wanted to take it away. So the fact that Tribal gaming has lasted this long is just a huge success. We have a right to game, to advertise and thrive within this industry.”
One vertical currently threatening Tribal gaming, which also took over the Indian Gaming Association (IGA) conference in San Diego during April, are prediction markets and sweepstakes casinos. Along with Morgan, California Nations IGA (CNIGA) Chairman James Siva spoke out against the gaming types, sharing that Tribes have no fear in challenging prediction markets operators from a legal standpoint.
Morgan also touched on the challenges smaller Tribes have faced in the past to establish successful gaming operations, and how generating revenue can be a game of chance more than anything else.
Good to know: During the 2025 IGA Conference, DraftKings Co-Founder and CEO Jason Robins and FanDuel President Christian Genetski spoke with Conference Chairman Victor Rocha on how partnering with sportsbook operators can provide a “strategic advantage” for Tribes in the iGaming market
“The most successful economic activity that Tribes have been able to engage in is gaming. But it’s not proportional around the country. Chickasaw, we lucked out. They put a highway leading right to our property but we didn’t know that in 1985,” Morgan said.
“Part of advancing this industry is Tribes working with one another to ensure financial stability for every community, and working with lawmakers to force them to keep us in mind.”
FanDuel VP of Strategic Partnerships Sequoyah Simermeyer spoke on how operators such as his work with Tribes to bring sports betting offering to properties, and frameworks that are put into place as to how the revenue generated can be spent.
“I think one of the biggest accomplishments seen in Tribal gaming are the hundreds of operators currently overseeing how gaming operations are carried out at their properties or in their state,” Simermeyer said.
“Protecting their communities and tribal sovereignty, I really see it as one of the most noteworthy accomplishments Tribal gaming has achieved in recent years.”
Each speaker agreed that, despite the time certain Tribal regulators take to approve gaming types or the delays which can be seen for integrating gaming operations into a community, Tribes want to continue growing with the opportunities being seen in gaming.
While protecting Tribal gaming and the members of each Tribe is still “crucial at all times,” finding ways to expand services offered at these properties appears to be a goal for leaders such as Morgan and Coin.
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