As is clear in the county tables above, the investment of Tribes in Tribal Gaming is accompanied by very substantial employment. Indeed, since 2000, when it employed about 9,300 Arizonans, Tribal Gaming has grown to rank among some of the largest and most influential segments of the Arizona economy. For example, Tribal Gaming employment ranks larger than Arizona’s mining and logging employment according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics but smaller than Arizona’s medical assistant jobs (Table 3).

The US Bureau of Economic Analysis would rank Tribal Gaming employment between employment in electronics and appliance stores and forestry, fishing, and related activities (Table 4). Of course, neither federal agency tracks Tribal Gaming employment as its own segment, and Tribal Gaming jobs are implicitly included in other sectors’ totals. Nonetheless, the exercise puts Tribal Gaming in perspective.

Additional context comes from ranking Arizona’s Tribal Gaming employment against the top employers in the state (as reported by the Arizona Republic). Of course, statewide Tribal Gaming does not take place in one company, but rather in 23 facilities operated by 16 different owners as noted above. However, as a single category of enterprise, it ranks among the top ten statewide, above McDonald’s and below Wells Fargo (Table 5).