Poarch Band of Creek Indians, Alabama’s lone federally-recognized tribal nation, has announced that it has bagged a significant contract from NASA to handle its communications starting in June 2023.

Actually, the NASA contract has been awarded to PCI Productions LLC, a Huntsville-based media firm owned and operated by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians tribe. Under the terms of the newly signed contract, PCI Productions LLC will get up to $217.6 million to handle the government space agency’s communications. The aforementioned figure is for the full contract – an initial 16-month accord followed by a 20-month optional extension.

The tribal media firm in question, which is a subsidiary of PCI Federal Services, will help develop the space agency’s marketing & communications materials. The media firm will be responsible for producing communications for NASA’s space missions, public engagement, stakeholder relations, archives services, in addition to Freedom of Information Act requests.

Meanwhile the tribe is making efforts expand its gaming business in the state. Recently it started a new political campaign for the expansion of casino gambling and lottery, arguing that neighboring states are reaping benefits from Alabama’s lack of gambling options. Commercial casinos are operating in neighboring state of Mississippi, while online sportsbetting is legal in Tennessee.

Winning for Alabama Campaign states, “Tell your legislator to get in the game now and support a smart gaming plan teamed with a state lottery. Don’t sit on the sidelines. Together, we win.”

The tribe is already economically supported by its gaming division, called Wind Creek Hospitality. Wind Creek owns and operates three Class-II gaming properties in the state, viz. Wind Creek Atmore, Wind Creek Montgomery, and Wind Creek Wetumpka. It is also responsible for Pennsylvania’s Wind Creek Bethlehem, Wind Creek Curacao, and Wind Creek Aruba.

In addition, the Poarch Creek Indians have ownership stakes in the Pensacola Greyhound Park and Mobile Greyhound Park racetracks, which are located in Florida and Alabama, respectively.

The Poarch Creek Indians are actually descendants of a division of the original Creek Nation, which once covered a large area covering almost all of Alabama and Georgia. These people have been living together in and around their reserved territory in Poarch, Alabama, for almost 200 years. Despite being relatively a small tribe with just around 2,700 members, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians economic divisions consist of a number of multimillion-dollar enterprises.