'The spending per customer just isn't where it used to be,' said Ryan Amundson, spokesman for Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley. The economy, which was recessionary throughout 2008, kept gamblers holding on to their chips. 'It's a pretty tough business right now,' said Lisa Waukau, chairwoman of the Menominee Nation, a 9,000-member tribe located near Keshena. The 25 casinos in Wisconsin won about $1.24 billion from gamblers last year, down from $1.26 billion in 2007, according to the Indian Gaming Industry Report compiled annually by Alan Meister, principal economist at Nathan Associates Inc., a Washington, D.C., consulting firm. The casino business, an industry once believed to be recession-proof, is taking a hit in Wisconsin: The state's 11 tribes saw their gaming revenue fall by nearly 2% last year, according to a new study.
