The three-member Spokane County, Washington commission recently unanimously voted to sue the U.S. Department of the Interior which approved the Spokane Tribe’s new 0 million off-reservation casino complex in Airway Heights. The lawsuit asks the Interior Department to block the Spokane Tribe Casino. It’s only the second off-reservation casino that has been approved in Washington. The first was the Kalispel Tribe’s profitable Northern Quest.
The Kalispel Tribe also sued the Interior Department, contending the Spokane Tribe’s casino will steal business from the Northern Quest located two miles away. The lawsuit claims the Spokane Tribe’s casino “will have a devastating impact on Northern Quest, which funds nearly all of the Kalispel Tribe’s government operations.”
Spokane Tribe Chairwoman Carol Evans said despite litigation, casino construction and job fairs will continue. “I am saddened by a potential lawsuit,” Evans said. She noted it took a decade for the Spokane Tribe to win federal approval for the new casino. The tribal reservation is located 40 miles northwest of the city. Evans said the tribe claims the metropolitan area as its ancestral lands, so it should be allowed to build a casino there, even if the Kalispels were first. She stated the Spokane Tribe believes the Kalispels simply want to avoid fair competition.
Evans added the project will create thousands of jobs for the financial struggling tribe, and also that Governor Jay Inslee approved it. Inslee stated he wants to respect the sovereignty and economic development goals of the Spokane Tribe, whose new casino will generate millions of dollars for state and local governments.
The Spokane Tribe Casino will include a casino, hotel, restaurants, convention facilities, bars, tribal cultural center, police and fire stations, spa and retail space.
