Off-reservation gaming has been good to Airway Heights, Washington, the city manager said.
The city hosts the
Northern Quest Casino, owned by the
Kalispel Tribe. Property values have grown by more than $101 million since the casino opened in 2000 and the facility has attracted other businesses, city Manager Albert Tripp told The Spokesman Review.
“We have the record of what’s happened here economically over the past 12 years," Tripp told the paper.
Tripp made his comments in response to a
study commissioned by the Spokane County Commission that claimed the off-reservation casino proposed by the
Spokane Tribe will hurt the local economy.
The county sent its report to the
Bureau of Indian Affairs as part of the environmental impact statement for the
West Plains Mixed-Use
Development.
The Spokane Tribe is pursing the casino under the two-part determination provisions of the
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
That means the governor's approval is required if the BIA approves the project.
In the history of IGRA, only three tribes have successfully opened casinos under the two-part determination provisions. One is the Kalispel Tribe, whose leaders oppose the Spokane Tribe's casino.
Get the Story:
City: Casino not a tax drain
(The Spokesman Review 5/17)
Federal Register Notice:
Final Environmental
Impact Statement for the Proposed Spokane Tribe of Indians West Plains Casino
and Mixed Use Project, City of Airway Heights, Spokane County, WA (February
1, 2013)
Related Stories
Letter: Casino won't help Spokane Tribe
with unemployment (5/13)
Join the Conversation
