Thinking back on her childhood, Lana Rivera describes many fond memories. She recalls playing among the neighborhood kids in Joliet, Illinois. “The whole block was our playground,” says Rivera, 51.
She also remembers having a rather inspirational conversation with her godmother when she was about 10. Rivera had observed her godmother studying hard for a test she had to take to become a manager at an oil refinery. It perplexed her as a young girl as to why anyone would have to study for their job. Her godmother explained that she wanted to ace the test to prove to her male coworkers that she was just as capable as anyone else for the position.
That’s when she uttered words to a young Rivera that she would never forget, “Don’t you ever let any man tell you that you can’t be somebody.”
Rivera, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, started out in the casino and gaming industry as a card dealer and has been climbing the ladder ever since. Her work has taken her to Indiana, Arizona, Oklahoma and now California. Rivera was made general manager of Graton Resort & Casino in 2019 and was recently promoted to president of the organization. To see Rivera’s hard work in action visit Graton Resort & Casino, 288 Golf Course Drive West.
Tell me about the Muscogee Creek Nation.
Muscogee Creek Nation is the fourth largest tribe in the U.S. The tribe was originally from the South, but was forcibly moved out through the horrible journey known as the Trail of Tears. We landed in Oklahoma and our tribe’s headquarters are in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. And the tribe right now is massive; I would say we are probably knocking on the door of 100,000 citizens. They provide a multitude of social services ranging from health care to education.
What was your favorite part of your culture growing up?
The most moving part to me is attending the church. When you come into church you are seated to the left or the right, men sit on one side and women sit on the other. The last time I was at the church was probably six years ago. Nowadays they do it in English and then they do it in our native language. But when I was younger it was only in our native language. The songs are so moving and beautiful, I miss it.
What is your favorite card game?
If we are talking about on the casino floor, it’s blackjack. But if we are talking about home games, it’s spades. I love spades. I like playing partners, so if you have a good partner it makes for some good competition.
What’s a good story from your dealer days?
I opened up Harrah’s in Joliet and my very first day I was on a blackjack table on a riverboat. On our first sail, there was a gentleman at my table, and he said he had someone that he wanted me to meet. Probably 20 minutes into the sail, he shows up with a gentleman and he sits at the table and starts playing. I had a full table and I’m playing with a minimum hand of $5, our maximum was maybe $500. This gentleman starts playing really aggressively and playing just crazy—not by the book. So he runs everybody off at the table because they are mad at him.
What made his playing “crazy”?
He’s doing nonsense, splitting 10s and all of this other stuff. Then he requests a marker for $25,000. They bring the chips and the limits go up and I think we were playing $3,500 a hand and he was playing all seven spots [at the table] at the same time. Things got very serious, but I ended up beating him for around $250,000.
That sounds pretty stressful for a first day on the job!
The pressure that I had from everyone—from all of the supervisors behind me. We were trained for so long and so well to just think of money as chips and not true money, so that’s the way I thought of it. I was a high-limit dealer from that day on.
Any advice for women hoping to rise through the ranks in a male dominated field?
Yeah, learn from the men in your field. And be willing to be a sponge for anyone who wants to teach you. Don’t use the crutch: “because I am a woman.” Work toward being promoted because you are the best at what you do and just so happen to be a woman. I feel that is where you are going to gain a lot of respect from men in your field.
What do you do for fun?
We have a Graton Resort & Casino softball team called the Jackpots. Football has always been my favorite sport to watch, but we played softball growing up and I always enjoyed the camaraderie of having to work together as a team to win. Softball also has down time—you’re sitting on the bench, waiting for your at-bat, and you get the chance to talk to your teammates and learn more about them. That’s one of the reasons we play softball here at Graton – yes, it’s a fun thing to do, but it’s also a great way to get to know each other a little better.
