The tiny community of La Center, Washington, is learning how to deal with the traffic that has been generated by the recent opening of the ilani Casino Resort by the Cowlitz tribe, which during the first day caused traffic to back up eight miles and created gridlock for hours at the Interstate 5 interchange.
Residents of the town have been forced to take back roads to leave. Town officials closed the main road out of town and put up detour signs. This created a lot of local resentment, expressed by one resident who declared: “It was blocked off. That seemed kind of wrong.” She added, “It’s our road.”
The La Center Public Works Department made the decision to redirect traffic shortly after the casino opened. Plans it had developed beforehand were quickly swamped by the reality.
The detoured traffic also quickly swamped the back roads too, often doubling the amount of time it took for residents to get where they were going.
Part of the problem was that the Interstate interchange wasn’t completely finished before the casino opened on April 24. One the dedicated right turn lane is completed many traffic hitches are expected to vanish. It will allow residents to bypass the casino entirely and head directly into town.
Typically traffic problems caused by a new casino go away over time.
Other residents were annoyed that searchlights blotted out their nighttime sky.
One resident told the Columbian: “You’re pushing your boundaries to interfere with our stargazing. If it’s just a week, fine. But if this continues all summer long, I’m not going to be happy.”
The $510 million casino, built by the Cowlitz tribe, has 2,500 slots, and 75 gaming tables. It is expected to lure 4.5 million tourists annually.
While the traffic may be annoying residents close by the casino, it may actually be positive for the Oregon towns of Newberg and Dundee, which are hoping that more traffic will be drawn from Highway 99W, and make things safer for pedestrians in their downtowns.
It’s still too early to say whether there will be such an effect on Oregon traffic, according to Lou Torres, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Transportation. He told the Newberg Graphic “I think we will have to see how it plays out for a while and then we can look at traffic numbers. I think it is way too early to make any projections.”
Despite all the first week traffic to the new casino, Torres commented that it might not relieve pressure on 99W, due to growth in nearby towns.
“With the steady and continued business and residential growth, it may be hard to predict how much influence the new casino will have. Bottom line, it is too early to determine,” he said.
Meanwhile the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, who fought the Ilani Casino Resort almost to the bitter end in federal courts, and predicts that its Spirit Mountain Casino—which is 60 miles from the upstart— will suffer a 40 percent hit to its revenues, has so far not collected enough data yet to say whether that prediction has come true.
But early data was encouraging. “We’re cautiously optimistic the impacts aren’t going to be that heavy,” said Justin Martin, a lobbyist for the tribe.
To try to blunt that predicted effect, the Spirit Mountain recently completed a three-year $13 million remodel.
The Oregon state lottery doesn’t seem to have suffered any ill effects as yet. Lottery revenues actually increased 4 percent the first week— compared to the year before— after the Ilani opened.
The small lottery retailers near the state line, considered the most vulnerable by the lottery, have not noticed any decline in sales. State economists had predicted a 12 percent loss in lottery revenues.
In Oregon, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians has proposed an “inter-tribal” casino for Salem, the state capital. Some tribes object to the off-reservation casino, and Governor Kate Brown says it will only happen if all eight of the state’s tribes agree.
Because it is a proposal for an “off-reservation” casino, Brown’s approval is required.
A spokesman for the governor released this statement last week: “To date, Gov. Brown has not received any proposal that enjoys comprehensive tribal support. Should Gov. Brown receive such a proposal, the discussion would focus on whether the proposed casino would be in the best interest of the tribes, and of the people of Oregon.”
The Siletz tribe is proposing the casino on Interstate 5 as one way of fighting back against the Ilani Casino Resort, which opened in La Center, Washington late last month. It projects that the casino would generate 1,500 jobs and create $185.4 million in gross revenue during its first year.
Dee Pigsley, chairman of the Siletz tribal council said in a statement, “We know that when Tribes come together with a shared mission, we achieve more for our community.” The plan calls for the Siletz tribe getting 25 percent, other tribes splitting 50 percent and the remaining 25 percent going to state and local governments.
Oregon has a one casino per tribe policy and the Siletz tribe already has a casino in Lincoln City.
Oregon’s Grand Ronde Tribe, operators of Spirit Mountain Casino, near Salem, already expects to experience crippling losses to the Ilani. Justin Martin, a lobbyist for the tribe told the AP that the proposal would be “devastating.”
In a separate but related development, a bill that has passed in the Oregon House and now awaits action by the Senate would ban “for profit” poker establishments, allowing only poker games operated by charities.
It would amend existing statutes so that only “social” poker games would be allowed. Currently Portland has 13 for profit poker rooms, with another seven operating within the same county.
