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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025.04.21 Council Mtg Handout from Max FaulknerWulzoeu— pvvUr Co.+ r�u,n11 ia (, ( ko*' ' 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