March 30, 2026
Record tribal gaming revenue is raising the bar for resort design. Steelman Partners will be at IGA 2026, Booth 1755.
The architecture firm behind 4,000+ projects worldwide is sending its senior leadership to the Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention in San Diego
LAS VEGAS, NV — March 24, 2026 — Tribal gaming just posted its fourth consecutive revenue record. The question now isn't whether to grow. It's what to build.
Steelman Partners, the architecture and design firm behind the Sands Macau, Resorts World Las Vegas, Mohegan INSPIRE, Circa Resort & Casino, Gila River Santan Mountain, and more… announced that its senior leadership will attend the 2026 Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention at the San Diego Convention Center, March 30 through April 2, 2026. The team will be at Booth 1755 throughout the convention.
Paul Steelman, Founder and CEO; Lorine Hanson, President; and Suzanne Steelman Taylor, Vice President of Strategy, will be available for one-on-one meetings with tribal leaders, casino operators, gaming commissions, and development teams.
Why now
Tribal gaming has now set revenue records four consecutive years. The National Indian Gaming Commission put gross gaming revenue at $43.9 billion for fiscal year 2024. Including ancillary revenue estimated by the Indian Gaming Association, the total reaches $49.1 billion. The industry supports more than 676,000 jobs and produces a $105 billion annual economic impact across 29 states.Those numbers reflect real success. They also draw additional competition.
Sports betting apps, online gaming platforms, new commercial licenses, and prediction markets are all competing for the same consumer dollars. But consumer spending on experiences is growing faster than spending on goods, and what people want isn't generic. They want something they can't get anywhere else. A property that puts world-class dining, entertainment, wellness, and gaming under one roof isn't competing with an app. It's offering something an app can't.
That means looking beyond the gaming floor. And that's a design problem.
The integrated resort model
Over the past four decades, gaming's share of total casino-resort revenue in Nevada has dropped from 62% to 43%, according to UNLV Gaming Research. Non-gaming revenue from dining, hospitality, entertainment, retail, and wellness is now the majority of total property revenue at top performing resorts.This isn't a trend. It's a structural shift, and it plays to strengths tribal nations already have.
Steelman Partners designs integrated resorts: properties where gaming, hospitality, dining, entertainment, and retail work together under a single architectural plan. Sightlines, adjacencies, and guest pathways are all planned to drive revenue across every line of business and enhance the guest experience.
Recent projects show how this works at different scales:
- Thunder Valley Casino Resort (United Auburn Indian Community, Lincoln, CA): A 172,250 square foot expansion in the Sacramento market, the highest-grossing tribal gaming region in the country. The scope covered interior architecture, lighting design, a new hotel tower, parking garage, and porte-cochère. Indigenous Maidu and Miwok basket patterns, oak leaf and acorn symbolism, and a Red Tailed Hawk sculpture are woven throughout the property, making the tribe's cultural identity part of the architecture itself.
- Gila River Santan Mountain Casino (Gila River Indian Community, Chandler, AZ): A 120,000 square foot casino designed as a modern desert oasis, with 850+ slot machines, a fully integrated BetMGM sportsbook, a High Limit Gaming Salon, and panoramic views of the Sonoran Desert built into the architecture. The property created an estimated 650 jobs for the local economy.
- Mohegan INSPIRE (Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, Incheon, South Korea): Three hotel towers, 1,275 rooms, South Korea's first 15,000 seat multi-purpose arena, an indoor water park under a glass dome, and a 150-meter digital entertainment street. Design architect: Steelman Partners.
Global scale, tribal roots
Paul Steelman founded the firm in 1987. Since then, it has designed more than 4,000 projects worldwide, including the Sands Macau (the property that brought the integrated resort model to Asia), Resorts World Las Vegas ($4.3 billion, 3,500+ rooms), Mohegan INSPIRE in South Korea (15,000 seat arena, indoor water park), and Circa Resort & Casino that has reshaped downtown Las Vegas.No other firm has this combination of global integrated resort work and deep tribal sector experience. The firm's tribal clients include Pechanga, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, Mashpee Wampanoag, United Auburn Indian Community (Thunder Valley), and the Gila River Indian Community.
The firm hosts seven integrated studios covering architecture, interior design, lighting design (shop12), branding (MARQI), master planning, graphic design, and 3D visualization.
Meet the team at Booth 1755
The Steelman Partners leadership team will be at Booth 1755 during the Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention. They're available for meetings on integrated resort master planning, casino floor design and optimization, hospitality and entertainment venue design, culturally responsive architecture, and feasibility studies for new builds, expansions, or repositioning projects."The tribal gaming industry is one of the most purposeful development sectors in the world," said Paul Steelman, Founder and CEO. "These communities aren't just building casinos. They're building economic engines that fund healthcare, education, and cultural preservation for generations. We look forward to meeting tribal leaders in San Diego who are ready to start planning what's next."
Tribal leaders, casino operators, and development teams interested in scheduling a meeting with Paul Steelman, Lorine Hanson, or Suzanne Steelman Taylor during IGA 2026 can reach out in advance. Visit Booth 1755 or contact the team at steelmanpartners.com.
About Steelman Partners
Steelman Partners is an international architecture and design firm headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, with offices in Macau and Ho Chi Minh City. Founded in 1987 by Paul Steelman, whose career began alongside Steve Wynn on properties including The Golden Nugget and The Mirage. The firm has designed more than 4,000 projects worldwide. It specializes in casinos, integrated resorts, and entertainment venues, and operates through seven in-house studios spanning architecture, interior design, lighting design (shop12), branding, master planning, graphic design, and 3D visualization. For more information, visit steelmanpartners.com
