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Casino loses license after refusing to pay for audit

Monday, June 27, 2005 | 9:32 a.m.

KALISPELL, Mont. -- A casino on the Flathead Indian Reservation was ordered closed and had its license pulled after its operators refused to pay a controversial audit fee that the tribes required.

Gene Sorrell, executive director of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes' Gaming Commission, said operators of the Jackpot Casino in Polson, Mont., were told to "turn off their machines" on Thursday after failing to meet a deadline to pay for the audit.

"It's too bad," he said. "It's really a lose-lose situation on both sides."

Kathy Gilroy, the casino's owner, called the more than $10,500 fee for the audit "the straw that finally broke the camel's back."

"The tribe does not let us make any money," Gilroy said. "There's no profit for me. The profit all goes to them."

Gilroy is not the only casino operator bothered by the fee. Jamie Rice, who leases gambling space at Joe's Smoke Ring in Evaro, paid the audit fee Thursday only after tribal gambling officials showed up with the intention of shutting down Rice's operation as well.

Sorrell said Rice, along with two other casino owners, paid for the audits only under protest.

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