HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025.04.21 Council Mtg Handout from Max FaulknerWulzoeu—
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This is a letter opposing the Colville tribes from opening a casino in Pasco,
Washington.
The Colville tribes already have 3 casinos; 2 of which are off reservation.
No other Northwest tribe has more than one casino except the Tulalips
which have 2, both on their reservation.
The Colvilles are also one of the few tribes that violated Washington State
law by bringing in illegal slot machines before they signed a compact.
The claim of Pasco being their traditional land is vague and disputed by the
Yakima tribe. (It's the Yakima River that runs in the Tri-cities, not the
Colville River.)
The Yakima Indians have operated their casino on reservation land and have
been responsible and don't even allow alcohol consumption in their casino.
Likewise, the Umatilla tribe has responsibly operated the Wildhorse Casino
on reservation land just outside of Pendleton.
These responsible tribes will be financially hurt if the Colvilles are allowed
to build another off -reservation tribe in Pasco.
Tribal casinos in Washington State benefit from being restricted to
Reservations. They are permitted to offer machine gaming, higher betting
limits, roulette, craps, and recently sports betting, which house -banked card
rooms cannot provide. They also can operate way more table games than
the 15 allowed to the mini casinos.
Also, the tribal casinos don't pay taxes to the local jurisdictions except for
some money for roads and infrastructure so people can get to the casinos.
Allowing the tribes to put casinos everywhere will kill off the tax revenue
that cities and counties now collect from the house banked card rooms.
Off reservation casinos were only allowed for tribes that didn't have
reservation land like the Cowlitz tribe North of Vancouver.
The house banked card rooms must adhere to the strict "self -exclusion" rules
that the Washington State Gambling Commission enforces per the
Legislative mandate. The players can ban themselves from gambling for up