Tribe, state reach gaming pact

The Spokane Tribe announced a tentative gambling compact with the state of Washington on Thursday that would be the cornerstone to an ambitious development in Airway Heights.

“This proposed compact promises to benefit not only our tribe but the entire region as well, creating needed jobs and boosting the local economy,” said Richard Sherwood, the tribe’s chairman.

Critics expressed concern that the new casino would be built on trust land located 25 miles from the reservation.

Spokane County Commissioner Todd Mielke said the plan to locate the casino off the reservation “sets an incredible precedent.”

Although the Kalispel Tribe already has a casino on nonreservation land, in that situation tribal property was considered unsuitable.

Mielke believes the Spokane Tribe’s deal will be subject to criticism and scrutiny.

“I think that generally the community has expressed some concerns about expanding gaming,” he said. “It certainly does have some impact on the surrounding community.”

The proposed compact allows the Spokanes, who are the only tribe in the state doing business without a formal agreement, to operate as many as 4,700 new video-gambling machines. The machines, which require cash instead of paper tickets, have previously been banned in Washington.

Construction of the biggest casino in the Inland Northwest – complete with a 200-bed hotel and concert hall – would allow the Spokanes to compete directly with the Kalispel Tribe. The Kalispels operate Northern Quest Casino just one mile from the proposed site west of Airway Heights.

“Our studies show there’s room enough for everybody,” said Gerald Nicodemus, secretary of the Spokane Tribal Business Council. “We don’t feel we’ll be harming any other casinos.”

A spokeswoman for the Kalispel Tribe declined to comment Thursday.

For 15 years, the Spokanes have traded negotiation and litigation with the state over gaming operations. The tribe’s plan must receive state and federal approval of the compact, which was negotiated with the staff of Washington’s Gambling Commission. Approval could take two to three years, tribal officials said.

Under the compact, the Spokanes agree to commit 2 percent of gross revenue from table games and 1 percent from gaming devices to local jurisdictions and charitable organizations, according to the tribe. That agreement is similar to other tribal compacts, attorneys said.

The casino would be an unmistakable move by the tribe to recoup business lost after the Kalispels opened Northern Quest in 2000. Nicodemus said the Spokane Tribe’s two casinos both initially lost significant revenue when the Kalispels opened their casino.

“The economic survival of the tribe is at stake here,” said Scott Crowell, the Spokane Tribe’s gaming attorney. “We need to provide significant services to tribal members. We are desperately underfunded.”

The money could improve health care and housing for the Spokane Indians, who currently experience close to 50 percent unemployment.

The development could create 2,000 jobs paying nearly $50 million in wages each year, according to tribal estimates. The tribe of 2,400 people could earn profits as high as $72 million annually, according to a 2005 marketing study.

Last year, Gov. Chris Gregoire rejected the Spokanes’ proposed compact before it was submitted to the Legislature for review. In a brief press release Thursday, Gregoire thanked tribal and state negotiators for “their willingness to address my concerns.”

The debate may also hinge on the nature of the new video-gambling machines, which will be single-push and cash-operated. Those machines have not previously been approved in Washington, but state officials have approved similar machines that take paper tickets and require two buttons to be pushed.

“That’s a distinction without a substantive difference,” said Scott Wheat, an attorney for the Spokanes. “The guts of the machines will remain the same.”

Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Seattle, a member of the State Gambling Commission, told the Seattle Times that the Spokanes’ proposal was “really offensive.”

“I can’t imagine how we can possibly approve this,” Prentice said.

The Department of Interior must also approve the plan to build the casino on trust land not located on the reservation. That process could take up to three years, Wheat said.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne opposed off-reservation gaming while governor of Idaho.

But in 1997, the Interior Department agreed to let the Kalispel Tribe open Northern Quest. The Kalispel Tribe successfully argued that its 10-mile-long reservation along the Pend Oreille River, 50 miles from Spokane, was largely undevelopable because of terrain and lack of potable water.

Attorneys for the Spokane Tribe counter that the current Kalispel casino “sits in the heart of Spokane aboriginal territory.”

“Given that, we think it is only fair to give the Spokanes a chance to compete in their own territory,” Wheat said.