Supreme Court ruled that the city of Richmond "failed to demonstrate a compelling interest in apportioning public contracting opportunities on the basis of race." This disparity study of Indiana's riverboat casinos is unique in that it seeks to estimate capacity, measure utilization, and calculate disparity (or lack thereof) of the contracting and purchasing practices of ten privately owned, publicly licensed casinos. Finally, in an effort to ensure that any firm, MBE, WBE or other, which it believed was "ready, willing and able" to do business with one or more of the riverboat casinos was counted four outreach meetings organized and held by Engaging Solutions.
Much of the material in the overview of the findings of the disparity report and the methodology of this report is taken from the work in Indianapolis. The sum of actual MBE and WBE expenditures made by or contracts entered into by the study subject is known as utilization. In studies reviewed by the Urban Institute, capacity estimates were based on a variety of data sources ranging from U.S.
After careful consideration of the different methods discussed in the Urban Institute's analysis, which ranged from the most inclusive definition of all firms identified in the Census to the least inclusive definition of only firms doing business with one or more has. In the sections of the report devoted to utilization and capacity, we provide more detail on the methods and logic used to determine capacity and utilization. There are two important differences in the purchasing behavior of Indiana's riverboat casinos and those of the city of Indianapolis and the state of Indiana.11 The first.
11 The analysis of city and state expenditures is based on the previously mentioned data.
UTILIZATION FINDINGS
The utilization analysis in this study is based on actual expenditures by riverboat casinos in Indiana between January 1, 2003 and December 31, 2005. Another important difference is that riverboat casinos spend a larger share of total expenditures on services and a much lower share on construction. The gaming supplies industry group was designed to capture supplies that would not normally be purchased by a state or local government but would be used by a casino.
The gaming equipment industry group was designed to encompass electronic gaming devices (such as slot machines), cards, poker chips, and other items directly related to gaming. However, the audit process found inconsistencies in the identification of goods that should fall into the gambling-related categories. If we compare the practice of using ten riverboat casinos in Indiana with the practice in the city.
Indianapolis and the state of Indiana, it is clear that the riverboat casinos spend their money in a different way than these two governmental entities. 12 It is recommended that the riverboat casinos and the IGC work together to identify a consistent method for identifying and reporting the game-specific supply purchases, largely because these suppliers are not typically found on any public sector supplier list. Half of all expenditures made by Indiana riverboats with MBE vendors were for supplies (over $106 million).
During the study period, Indiana's riverboat casinos spent nearly $243 million on construction; this equaled 21 percent of all riverboat casinos. Indiana's riverboat casinos spent $54 million, or 22 percent of all. than either the city of Indianapolis or the state of Indiana (see Figure 2).
In addition to these supplies, Indiana's riverboat casinos purchase gaming-related supplies that would not be purchased by local government units (such as gaming devices and alcohol). In the city of Indianapolis disparity analysis, the procurement industry group experienced the lowest share of MBE (0.7 percent) and WBE (0.8 percent). Similarly, the state's recent utilization analysis found that 2.8 percent of all supplies purchased are made from MBE vendors and 0.61 percent must be made from WBE vendors.
In contrast, riverboat casinos made 19 percent of all purchases from MBE purchasing/supply companies and 12 percent from WBE companies. The other services sector group had the lowest share of MBE spending, with MBE companies receiving 11 percent of all other services spending (Exhibit 11).
CAPACITY
Researchers and the Advisory Group took into account many factors (including past experiences with inequality, the degree of judgment required in various capacity measurements, and the unique fact that riverboats represent private companies rather than public entities) in determining the methodology used. used to estimate capacity in the study. For the purposes of this study, capacity is measured as the number of merchants who have informed the riverboats that they are ready, willing, and able to do or have done business with the riverboat casino in the past three years (the study period). or by notifying the riverboat operators that the company is ready, willing and able by requesting to be notified of contract opportunities. In addition, it was decided that the riverboat lists would be supplemented with public sector data obtained from the city/town and county where each riverboat is located, as well as the State of Indiana supplier list.
Finally, because some businesses might provide goods or services that would be purchased by a riverboat casino but not by the public sector (e.g., slot machines, alcohol), a series of outreach meetings were held in the regions where the riverboat casinos operate. Indiana are located. based and located in Indianapolis. In addition, Engaging Solutions worked with local media (including print media, radio talk shows and public service announcements) to further highlight the opportunity for companies to demonstrate that they were ready, willing and able to do business. do with the riverboat casinos in Indiana. The vast majority, 96 percent, of all suppliers in the final data set were initially identified this way.
After the riverboat casino lists were reviewed, the city, municipal, county, and state supplier lists were added and an additional 499 (3 percent) suppliers were initially found on one or more of the public sector supplier lists and added to the master capacity data. set. Finally, the suppliers who attended one or more of the outreach meetings were merged into the master capacity dataset and an additional 53 suppliers (less than 1 percent) were added to the study. It is important to note that although the 53 suppliers attributable to the public meeting represent less than one percent of the list of main capacity suppliers, these 53 suppliers do not appear on any list.
Some firms offer more than one type of good or service and as such are included in more than one capacity assessment. Nineteen of the vendors provided by the river casinos were EGD vendors and were not used in the procurement capacity estimate. Thirty-one (31) WBE construction companies were identified, representing 11 percent of all construction firms under analysis.
As shown in Figure 16, the researchers identified 266 MBE firms (2.9 percent) that expressed an interest and ability to provide other services to river casinos in Indiana. The proportion of MBE and WBE firms in the construction and professional services industry groups exceeds that of. It should also be noted that the two low-capacity industry groups MBE and WBE had a much higher total number of firms that expressed interest and ability to do business with Indiana's riverboat casinos.
DISPARITY
DETERMINATIONS
Beard Franchising, Inc
J. Food Distribution Inc
Business Location: Most in Northern or Southern Indiana Number of Years in Business: 47 percent of businesses have been in business. Casinos that use M/WBEs: Most of the companies that have worked with the casinos have worked for one or more of the following companies: Argosy, Belterra, Caesars, Casino Aztar, French Lick, Majestic Star, Horseshoe, Grand Victoria and Resorts Services/products purchased: The services/products provided may be. Some of the casino management staff make every effort to be accessible and fulfill their obligations.
Additional notes: • All the companies interviewed have tried to do business with the casinos. Most of the companies said they would continue to attend meetings and events and solicit new business. Less than one percent of respondents said they would not apply for a job at the casinos because it is too difficult to get to the decision makers and only a select few get the job.
That is, some businesses feel that casinos have successfully engaged the business community and promoted contact/. On the other hand, most of the comments were related to the fact that casinos have been remote and minimally offered real opportunities for all firms.
