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The opening of the casino in the 1990s added about 200 jobs. But oil's impact has been huge. "Anybody who wants to work can work," said Levins, with jobs available on rigs and in support industries such as oil supplies and trucking. The reservation was the last area to be targeted by companies in the state's oil patch because of onerous federal requirements. But a 2008 tax agreement standardized the rules for oil drilling. Dozens of wells have been drilled and more than 500 could be operating within five years. Lovina Fox hopes at least one winds up on her land near Mandaree, a town of about 500 on the reservation. Lights from nearby drill rigs and flares burning off excess gas already illuminate her home. "Everybody knows everybody here," she said. "If people are getting rich they're not saying anything and keeping it hush-hush. But it's not hard to figure out who's getting money
-- it's the people who have haven't worked in years and all the sudden, they're driving new vehicles." Tribal member Rose Marie Mandan, who admits to earning "a nice little cushion" from oil payments, said she moved away from the reservation more than 50 years ago to find a job, then returned after retiring. "In the 1950s there were no jobs here," said Mandan, 80. Now she's seeing tribal members moving to the reservation for work. Chuck Hale worked as a roughneck in other states before returning to his home near New Town to take a good-paying oilfield job. "It's tough work and it's damn cold," Hale said. "But it's worth it." Mandan worries about the effects of the instant wealth. "It can be good but only if people know how to use the money," she said. Wilkinson Jr., the casino general manager, said casino revenue jumped from $4.5 million in 2008 to $7.2 million in 2009. He said he had advised tribal elders "to have fun at the casino but don't spend it all there. I've told them to invest it in something useful, like ... their house and kids and grandkids, and send them to college."
[Associated
Press;
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