Published June 2002

Tulalips in talks to grow their gaming capabilities

By John Wolcott
Herald Business Journal Editor

Gaming options are growing for the Tulalip Tribes even as construction progresses on a vastly larger $72 million casino in Quil Ceda Village, two miles north of the existing casino.

While the walls have been going up at the new casino site, the tribes have been in Olympia negotiating a new contract with Washington state Gambling Commission officials that will allow the Tulalips to operate two casinos instead of the one they had planned on. The final approval, which must come from the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, is expected sometime in July.

Not only could the Tulalips operate both casinos on their reservation land, but they also would be able to increase the number of gaming tables from 50 to 125 when the larger casino opens in March 2003. The new casino can hold the 1,500 video “slot” machines allowed under the state contract, while the present casino only has room for 1,000 machines.

Also, the new casino will be allowed to stay open longer, up to 156 hours a week compared to 140 hours for the present casino.

The agreement is similar to one the Gambling Commission signed recently with the Muckleshoot tribe in Auburn, approving operation of two casinos.

John McCoy, the Tulalip Tribes’ Governmental Affairs Director, said the original plan was to move all of the casino’s electronic slot machines to the new building and use the old casino for bingo.

Now the tribes have the option of developing the new casino and also continuing to operate the first one, provided the gambling market in Snohomish County can support both facilities, he said.

The main draw is expected to be the new casino, along with its adjacent hotels, retail stores and perhaps even an amusement park sometime in the future. But the present, smaller casino — once the bingo hall that launched the Tulalip Tribes’ venture into a gaming economy a decade ago — provides some broader marketing options for the tribes under the new state agreement.

Behind the new casino, west of 27th Avenue NE, more land is being cleared of trees and stumps for an expansion of the tribes’ Boom City fireworks booths this year and for the new high-tech, “membrane” sewer treatment plant to be built on that site, McCoy said.

At the south end of the site, work will begin soon inside the neighborhood retail center that houses the tribes’ liquor store, in preparation for the Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce’s new headquarters and tourism center. That facility is due to be finished by midsummer.

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