Gregoire nixes Spokanes’ off-reservation gambling proposal

Friday, Oct. 28, 2005 | 6:56 a.m.

The move sends tribal and state officials back into negotiations on the compact, which also would have established the state's first revenue-sharing agreement for tribal gambling.

In a letter to the state Gambling Commission, Gregoire praised portions of the compact that would send as much as 35 percent of the tribe's gambling money to state and local governments.

But she wants officials to reconsider plans for a casino on tribal trust land about 25 miles from the tribe's reservation.

That portion of the compact "potentially changes the process by which gaming facilities are located on trust lands as set forth in federal law," Gregoire wrote.

She also asked negotiators to reconsider the number of gambling machines allowed, and a provision that would allow non-gambling tribes to lease some machines.

The proposed compact would allow tribal gambling operations on as many as five locations on trust land within or contiguous to the reservation, provided that one facility is on trust land near the Spokane suburb of Airway Heights.

The proposal also would have allowed the tribe to operate as many as 7,500 electronic gaming devices, with no more than 4,000 machines at any one location.

Thursday's rejection does not mean that Gregoire is flatly opposed to off-reservation gambling, but the governor wants concerns about the trust land proposal more completely studied, spokeswoman Carol Andrews said.

"She was just very concerned about those broader implications that she spelled out," Andrews said. "She wants them to go back and come back with something else."

Spokane Tribal Council member Rick Sherwood declined comment on the compact, saying he had missed a meeting with Gregoire on the matter and had not been briefed by other council members.

Tribal Chairman Greg Abrahamson did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

In her letter, Gregoire said she had discussed her concerns with Abrahamson.

"I am grateful for his willingness to work through this important matter on a government-to-government basis," she wrote.

The Spokane Tribe - operator of the Two Rivers Casino north of Davenport and other facilities - is the only tribe in the state that has a gambling operation but no gaming compact. Several casinos owned by tribal members also operate on Spokane tribal land.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 1998 that the state was not negotiating in good faith with the tribe and dropped a federal injunction against tribal gambling operations.

The state and the tribe resumed talks last year.

The draft compact rejected by Gregoire would have faced legislative hearings before formally landing on her desk. If approved by the governor, the compact would then be sent to the U.S. secretary of the Interior.

"The major thing was the off-reservation issue. That needs to go to the Interior Department and I made clear if that was what we had to vote on, I would have to vote no," said state Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton.

"Other tribes would want to do the same thing and there'd be no way we could stop them," Prentice said. "And that flies in the face of what the public told us last year with the initiative to expand gambling. By a 60.1 percent margin, they said no."