Keywords
Women; Gaming; Native American; Tribal Casinos; Diversity
Disciplines
Gaming and Casino Operations Management
Document Type
Original Research Article
Abstract
Tribal casinos operate for the economic development and self-sufficiency of their members so additional profit generated directly benefits their communities. Gender diversity has been shown to increase firm performance across different types of business so if tribal casinos have gender diversity in management they may be able to increase their profits. This study evaluates casino management positions in 405 tribal and 567 non-tribal casinos in the United States. Results indicate that women in tribal gaming only make up 37.8% of all management positions and while they represent about half of managers, the percentage decreases as the position increases. When compared to non-tribal casinos, tribal casinos have a significantly higher percentage of women representation overall, 37.8% vs. 33.6%, but when evaluating each level there is only a significant difference at the top position with tribal casinos having 23.5% of women representation compared to 17.1% in non-tribal casinos. While these results indicate that tribal casinos have a higher percentage of women in top positions compared to non-tribal casinos there is still room for additional gender diversity across the top levels.