The Oneida Nation in cooperation with the 11 Tribes in Wisconsin will be temporarily closing all casino operations on Saturday, March 21st at 11:59 p.m. Wisconsin Tribes operate 26 legal gaming operations throughout the State of Wisconsin. Wisconsin Tribes have high standards of regulation, oversight and sanitation standards that govern gaming operations.
We believe this decision is in the best interest of all the Oneida Nation’s stakeholders’, especially our valued employees, the community and customers. We appreciate the patience and dedication we have received from our workforce. Our casino employees will continue to be paid. We also commend Casino Management for their diligence, it has not been an easy process to develop and invoke, but we are confident these actions are in the best interest to protect our employees and our community.
We believe this decision further demonstrates the Oneida Nation’s commitment to take all precautionary measures that mitigate the exposure risk of the COVID-19 virus. The Oneida Nation understands economic impact this decision will have on our operations and to the Northeast Wisconsin Region, and we caution the public in transferring their play to illegal and unsanitary gaming in non-licensed facilities. We carefully reviewed the closing of casinos nationally, including Las Vegas and Atlantic City which helped reaffirm our decision. Oneida is committed to assess this decision weekly. Notice will be provided once operations resume.
The Oneida Nation is being responsible to contribute to flattening the curve on the spread of disease. We are confident the overall risk to our families, community and customers remains low as a result of each and every precautionary measure the Oneida Nation has taken to date; however, we emphasize the situation remains fluid.
The Oneida Nation participates in daily COVID-19 virus briefings with Public Health Officials, including the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Wisconsin Health Department. Updates are monitored and will continue to be communicated as quickly and concisely as possible. We encourage our Nation’s families and community members to review their own emergency preparedness plans and ask questions if you have them.
To assist providing a concise method of communicating information, the Nation has designated a centralized phone number and email where all questions about the Nation’s precautionary measures, that are not health related. These are as follows: 920-869-4481 and communications_department@oneidanation.org
