Business & Economic Impact
Employment
Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Grand Casino Hinckley alone employ approximately 3,000 people, of which approximately 93% live in rural Minnesota counties surrounding the casinos. Most of the casinos’ employees are residents of rural areas, where steady jobs with good wages and benefits were once in short supply. Today the casinos’ insurance plans cover 3,384 Associates and family members.
In addition, the Band’s tribal government employs approximately 640 people full-time, including 52 people who are employed at the Band’s Nay Ah Shing Schools.
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Job Postings
Local business impact
Dozens of new businesses have opened and expanded as a result of increased demand and opportunities created by the Mille Lacs Band’s casinos. Local clinics, hospitals and utilities have also grown. The casinos alone have spent millions of dollars in capital construction since they opened in the early 1990s, and they purchase millions of dollars in goods and services annually from vendors within a 60-mile radius of each casino.
Taxes
The Mille Lacs Band is the largest taxpayer in Pine County and one of the largest in Mille Lacs County. The Band, the Corporate Commission, Grand Casino Mille Lacs, and Grand Casino Hinckley paid
over $1.6 million in combined property taxes to three counties in 2010, including:
• $1,118,884 to Pine County
• $454,389 to Mille Lacs County
• $102,706 to Aitkin County
In addition, the casinos have paid $86.2 million in federal and state taxes based on employee wages since opening their doors. The employees themselves are subject to the same taxes paid by other Minnesotans. The only exception is American Indians who live and work on the reservation – they do not pay state income taxes.