A prospective casino in Cascade Locks may benefit future Oregon University System students in need of financial aid.
The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, who would build the casino, agreed in a compact to share up to
17 percent of its annual net win with the state if the Cascade Locks casino project moves forward. Eighty-five to 90 percent of the state’s cut would go toward direct student assistance for post-secondary education, according to a press release from Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s office. The remaining money would go to environmental purposes in the Columbia River Gorge, home of Cascade Locks, and economic
development around the state.
Some estimates have placed the possible total state revenue from the casino near $30 million per year.
Margie Lowe, executive director of the Oregon Student Assistance Commission, said money devoted to student assistance would go toward the Oregon Opportunity Grant.
“(Right now) we’re only serving the neediest of the needy,” she said.
Lowe added that she’d like to make several expansions to the grant, including raising income thresholds, funding grants for part-time students and funding a higher percentage of the cost of attendance. The money probably wouldn’t be available to OSAC for several years.
The casino would be the first one built off-reservation in the state, a situation that has dealt the governor’s office a unique hand in negotiating with the tribe. Even so, there’s no sure bet the U.S. Department of the Interior, which has veto power because the casino is off-reservation, will approve the plan.
The Oregonian reported Sunday that federal law clearly prohibits the state from taxing tribal casino gambling. In an attempt to avoid breaking that law, the governor and the Warm Springs tribe agreed that money will be transferred to the state’s control through the creation of the Oregon Benefit Fund, a nonprofit fund run by an independent board, rather than being transferred as a tax. If the federal government perceives the payment as a tax, the agreement will likely be denied.
“The Tribe has agreed to share, on a sovereign government-to-government basis, a portion of its revenues from the Gaming Facility,” states the compact between the tribe and the state.
The casino would require additional investments from the tribe as well. The press release stated that the tribe would be required to close its casino at the Kah-Nee-Ta resort on the Warm Springs reservation if the Cascade Locks casino is built in order to obey the state’s one-casino-per-tribe rule, and the tribe would be responsible for paying all costs associated with the installation of a new highway interchange on Interstate 84. Six percent of the facility’s net income would go to a Tribal Community Benefit Fund on top of the money headed for the Oregon Benefit Fund.
The Cascade Locks land is only 42 miles east of Portland, and the compact recognizes that the tribe will enjoy a “significant economic benefit” and an “economically desirable location.”
“This compact will benefit the people of the Warm Springs Tribe, the community of Cascade Locks and the people of Oregon,” Kulongoski said in the press release. “Everyone will reap the advantages of new jobs, increased access to
education, enhancement of the Gorge environment and economic development.”
Representatives from the University, ASUO and OUS all said they were paying attention to the casino deal but believed it was too early in the process to take a position.
“I think it’s wonderful as folks consider this option for Oregon that they remember the education costs for the needy population,” Lowe said.
The compact states that for the first eight years of gaming, the casino would donate 6 percent of the first $160 million of its net win, 12 percent of the next $40 million and 1
7 percent of all net win more than $200 million. After the first eight years, the tribe would pay 17 percent of all its net winnings.
Casino, if built, would help state’s university system
Daily Emerald
April 28, 2005
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