Sunday, January 28, 2007

A proposed Spokane Tribe of Indians gambling agreement is unfair to other
tribes and represents a major expansion of tribal gaming, skeptical
legislators said.
The Eastern Washington tribe is asking the state and federal government to
end more than a decade of legal challenges and approve the gaming compact,
which would make the Spokanes one of the state's largest casino operators.
Tribal secretary Gerald Nicodemus told lawmakers Tuesday the agreement
allowing as many as 4,700 slot-style machines at five sites would be a good
deal for both the tribe and region. "This compact will be our best chance to
impact our tribe's future in a significant and historic way," Nicodemus told
House and Senate members on Tuesday. The state gambling commission has
scheduled a public hearing on the proposed agreement Feb. 9 in Olympia. The
compact needs approval of the commission, Gov. Chris Gregoire and the
federal government. Lawmakers said the proposal would be a dramatic
expansion of the $1.2 billion Indian gaming industry in the state. The
Spokane tribe is the only gambling tribe that has not negotiated an
agreement with the state. State and federal officials contend Nevada-style
slot machines in the tribe's casinos are illegal. The proposed compact
"rewards illegal operations and encourages a tremendous expansion of
gambling," Sen. Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside, said. Sen. Margarita Prentice,
D-Renton, predicted that many of the 27 tribes that have gaming compacts
with the state will oppose the Spokanes' compact. "I think they'll be really
angry, because they are now," she said.
The plan is a sign of a "new and positive relationship" between the state
and tribe, Nicodemus said. Casino revenues would pay for better education
for the tribe's children, better health care for its elders and a
diversified reservation economy, he said. Current law allows each tribe to
have a total of 675 slot-style machines. Larger tribes can increase that
number by leasing machines from smaller tribes. The proposed Spokane Tribe
compact, in the works since 2005, would allow as many as 4,700 machines and
includes benefits other tribes haven't gotten in their negotiations. It
would allow cash-fed machines, instead of requiring players to use paper
tickets or plastic cards. It also would allow high-stakes betting at limits
set by the tribe. "I can hear it coming: 'Look what you did for the
Spokanes,'" said Sen. Jim Clements, R-Selah, whose district includes the
Yakama Tribe. Prentice said she doesn't like the high-rollers provision.

"It's still real troublesome that you can leapfrog over (the other tribes)
and have a real juicy plum that other tribes don't have," she said.

In 2004, state voters overwhelmingly rejected an initiative that would have
allowed slot-style machines in nontribal businesses like card rooms and
bars.

The current proposal is the second try at a compact between the state and
tribe in recent years.

In 2005, negotiators reached an agreement that would have allowed up to
7,500 machines, including 4,000 in a single casino. But Gregoire ordered
that version scrapped after some lawmakers balked.