Tribal casino near Arlington to triple in size

Published 10:26 pm Friday, February 1, 2008

The Angel of the Winds Casino is expected to triple in size by year’s end, but don’t expect Las Vegas-style glitz.

“There are a lot of unknowns out there and people will jump to conclusions, but they should know that we want to maintain our local focus,” said Travis O’Neil, general manager of the casino.

Construction has begun on a $44 million expansion that will triple the casino’s size with an extra 84,000 square feet.

When the expansion is finished, which is expected to be in December, most of that new space will be filled with gamblers from northern Snohomish and southern Skagit counties, O’Neil said.

“We’re going to try to reach into the Seattle market, but we know that’s difficult,” he said. “We’ll maintain our northern focus.”

The casino has averaged about 800,000 visitors each year over the past two years, O’Neil said. With the expansion, the tribe hopes to bring in at least 1.2 million visitors annually.

More gamblers mean more traffic worries, said Duane Rhodes, who lives in Seymour Country Estates one block south of the casino’s entrance. Rhodes opposed the casino when it was first built, and his feelings haven’t changed.

“I continue to be very concerned,” he said. “This has become a less desirable place to live.”

Many of the casino’s initial opponents have by now changed their minds, O’Neil said. He added that the expansion will bring more amenities to the area, including a full-service restaurant. That’s an upgrade from the casino’s current deli-style pit stop.

About 17,000 square feet will be added to the casino’s gambling floor for a total of 30,000 square feet, said Shana Swanson, president of the Stillaguamish Tribal Enterprise. The space will be used mostly for Class III slot-style machines, but there will also be poker and keno rooms.

The Stillaguamish Indian Tribe, which owns the casino, announced the expansion on Friday. The casino’s Web site was updated Friday to include a Web cam of the construction work, which is refreshed every five minutes. The tribe first opened the casino, which is currently 22,000 square feet, in October 2004. The tribe’s original plan was for a 45,000-square-foot casino, but tribal leaders weren’t able to get enough funding, O’Neil said.

The current expansion is funded by a private bond through Merrill Lynch, Stillaguamish Tribal Execuive Eddie Goodridge said. The bond, worth $68 million, includes debt remaining from the initial casino project, he said.

The tribe began working on financing for the expansion in May, Goodridge said. Tribal leaders signed on to the deal early this year.

Washington state’s 29 tribes earned the right to own 975 class III slot-style machines when they renegotiated their gambling compacts with the state last year. The previous limit was 675 machines.

Tribes can also lease additional machines from other tribes that are not using their full allotments of 975 machines. The limit on class III machines in one facility is 3,000 for most of the state’s tribes. That’s an increase of 1,000 machines. The state limits the use of class III machines because, among other technical reasons, the rate of play can be considerably faster than class II machines.

Currently, the Stillaguamish tribe has 475 class III machines and 60 class II machines in use at their casino. Class II machines are not limited by the state.

When the expansion is completed, the tribe plans to use 900 class III machines and 100 class II machines.

The Tulalip Tribes operated 2,625 machines between the Quil Ceda Creek and Tulalip Casinos when their gambling compact was renegotiated last year. Tribal leaders said then that they planned to add about 100 machines to the Quil Ceda Creek casino right away, and more when their luxury hotel opens this summer.

Arlington Mayor Margaret Larson was not available to comment on the Stillaguamish Tribe’s casino expansion Friday.

The Stillaguamish Tribe faced stiff opposition when it opened the casino in 2004. A citizen’s group formed under the name “No Dice,” and some residents moved out of the area.

Rhodes said the casino still has many opponents who lived there long before the first deck of cards was shuffled.

“Traffic is much worse than I thought it would be,” he said. “Many of the people who come struggle with the concept of stopping at stop signs and things like that.”

Casino officials said traffic in and around the property is closely monitored. When one man died this week in a wrong-way crash on I-5, casino employees quickly viewed surveillance tapes to determine that the driver had not come from the Angel of the Winds Casino, Goodridge said.

The casino is an economic stimulant to the area, O’Neil said.

“We were known as the little casino in the woods, but I think this expansion will open people’s eyes,” he said.

Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.