Gaming briefs for Oct. 10, 2003

Friday, Oct. 10, 2003 | 11:31 a.m.

Search for CEO launched

ATLANTA -- The Georgia Lottery Corp.'s board of directors has selected an executive recruiting firm to lead its national search for a president and chief executive.

Korn-Ferry International, a Los Angeles-based executive search firm, will conduct a national search to find a replacement for Rebecca Paul, who resigned on Sept. 8 to head Tennessee's lottery.

Kathy Walls, the senior vice president for corporate affairs for the Georgia Lottery, is serving as interim president while the search is conducted.

Paul earned approximately $500,000 a year as head of the Georgia Lottery.

Tribe proposes casino

SNOQUALMIE, Wash. -- The Snoqualmie Tribe wants to build a $60 million, 147,000-square-foot casino just off Interstate 90 in this east King County community.

The tribe, which has a membership of about 540, received approval for the casino from the Bureau of Indian Affairs last month.

It would employ 700 people and include at least 460 video slot machines, 54 gaming tables, three restaurants, gift stores and a multipurpose room for live entertainment and conferences.

Although the proposed casino would sit on 56 sloping acres and would have a sweeping view of the Snoqualmie Valley, it "won't be a beacon in the woods," Ray Mullen, the tribe's director of economic development, told the King County Journal on Wednesday. The casino is proposed for a site just 500 feet from I-90's Exit 27.

If the casino is built, hotel rooms may be added in about five years, Mullen said.

City anticipates windfall

SALAMANCA, N.Y. -- Salamanca will not sell any city-owned land for the next six months as officials assess rising real estate value in anticipation of a Seneca Indian Nation casino.

The Common Council voted for a six-month moratorium Wednesday in response to last month's referendum in which members of the Seneca Nation voted in favor of a casino on reservation land.

Nearly the entire city of Salamanca is located on the Senecas' Allegany reservation.

"Since the casino resolution has been passed there has been a lot more interest in city-owned land," council member Larry Butler said.

Mayor J. Stephen Montgomery said he has received several inquiries about purchasing city property in the last month.

"If the casino comes in the land values will skyrocket," he said.