Indian Gaming > Editorial: Don't block all off-reservation gaming

May 10, 2006

Editorial: Don't block all off-reservation gaming

"The Warm Springs tribes own 40 acres of land on a steep hillside near Hood River that they acquired long before Congress approved the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. After most legal experts, including advisers to Gov. Ted Kulongoski, concluded that the tribes had the legal power to build a casino on the Hood River property -- in an important stretch of the scenic gorge -- we reluctantly supported allowing a casino in an alternative site, an industrial area of Cascade Locks.

Kulongoski and the Warm Springs tribes worked out a deal in which the tribes would deed the Hood River site to the state, and provide tens of millions of dollars in support for higher education, in exchange for a casino in Cascade Locks. For working out this win-win agreement, Kulongoski, who is seeking re-election this year, is being pounded by hundreds of thousands of dollars in attack ads funded by the Grand Ronde Tribe, which is keen on keeping its grip on Portland-area casino gamblers.

The Warm Springs' proposed casino at Cascade Locks is a unique circumstance, and should not be swept up in a blanket prohibition on off-reservation casinos. At first blush, none of the 20 applications that poured in just before [Sen. John] McCain's April 15 deadline comes close to meeting that standard. In fact, the two Oregon proposals look to be precisely the kind of casino shopping that McCain and others in Congress are determined to stop."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Tribes rush to the betting window (The Oregonian 5/10)