San Diego State University to Offer First Tribal Gaming Degree

And Open Research Institute To Focus Solely on Tribal Gaming

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. October 14, 2008

SAN DIEGO, CA, July 25, 2005. San Diego State University will offer the nation's first undergraduate degree program in tribal gaming and a university-based research institute to focus solely on tribal gaming, university and local tribal leaders announced Monday.

California's Sycuan Band of the Kumayaay Nation donated $5.5 million to San Diego State that also will be used to establish the Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming to study the fastest-growing sector of the multi-billion dollar U.S. gaming industry.

"This partnership is designed to have a transformational effect on tribal gaming across the nation," said San Diego State President Stephen L. Weber. "The Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming will explore and address important industry issues and create best practices to resolve them. This continues San Diego State's tradition of working with the community to create innovative programs."

Indian gaming is growing twice as fast as commercial casino gaming, with tribal gaming operations in the California-Northern Nevada region (with a reported $5.8 billion in tribal gaming revenues in 2004) far outpacing other states' share of a reported $19.4 billion in gross revenues from tribal gaming nationwide for 2004 - as reported this month by the National Indian Gaming Commission, which regulates tribal gaming.

"San Diego is the natural place to build the nation's premier academic and research institute on tribal gaming, since this county is home to the largest tribal gaming community (nine tribes with gaming facilities) in the world," said Joyce Gattas, dean of the College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts. "We're very grateful to all those at Sycuan who have generously given us the means to pursue this."

The new tribal gaming degree program and Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming will be housed within the university college's Hospitality and Tourism Management (HTM) Program. The Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming gift includes $5 million to endow the center and $474,000 in annual support, following an earlier $50,000 gift to the university in 2004.

"The Sycuan Tribe is proud to partner with San Diego State University to establish this important new educational program," said Sycuan Tribal Chairman Daniel Tucker. "San Diego State is nationally recognized as an innovative leader in higher education, and we are honored to work with SDSU to create this new institute as a center for student learning and academic research that can help support the continued growth of the tribal gaming industry."

The rapid growth of the tribal gaming industry in recent years is creating a shortage of managers and other professionals who are trained in the industry's unique regulatory, cultural and marketing characteristics, said industry and university officials.

"One of the significant challenges facing the Indian gaming industry - and most other business sectors - is finding qualified entry-level management San Diego State University to Offer First Tribal Gaming Degree; And Open Research Institute To Focus Solely on Tribal Gaming