The Polson City, Montana commission voted 6-1 to approve annexing 79 acres of tribal land for a new 25,000-square-foot casino, with an expected groundbreaking in spring 2024.
The venue will be a collaboration between S&K Gaming and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, which commissioned a traffic study and environmental impact report to boost their chances of approval.
S&K Gamins Interim Chief Executive Officer Dan Hansen said, “Casinos really take a very special and specific type of build, and what we like about it is that we will now be able to have the casino be a casino and the resort focus on resort and family-friendly things that can bring other events and benefits into the community.”
Hansen noted an integral aspect of the venture will involve relocating more than 300 gaming machines from the KwaTaqNuk Resort and Casino in downtown Polson to the new site, which will allow the company “to focus on the casino as a business.”
CSKT’s Land Use Planning Director, Janet Camel, highlighted the many facets of the proposed plan, which could include, besides a casino, a hotel, low-cost housing, an RV park and a visitor’s center for Polson and the Flathead Reservation.
