"The Snoqualmie Tribe starts work later this month on the Eastside's first casino. Concern over gambling's expansion aside, this venture ought to succeed.

After a naive business deal soured, the Snoqualmies paid $50.8 million for land sold several years previously for just $3.8 million, 'a tough pill to swallow,' tribal leaders said at the time. Now they have inked a $330 million financing deal, making it one of the largest bond offerings in tribal-gaming history. The Snoqualmies are taking a huge financial gamble.

The payoff is future economic prosperity for a small band plagued with unemployment and impoverished members, some of whom don't have indoor plumbing.

Casino Snoqualmie will be built on 56 woodsy acres near the Mountains to Sound Greenway. To the tribe's credit, the casino's footprint will be small."

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Editorial: Snoqualmie tribe rolls the dice (The Seattle Times 2/9)