Gaming: East Multnomah County casino initiative gaining signatures at a fast clip - Backers of a proposed casino at the old greyhound track in Wood Village are collecting signatures at a fast rate and look like they have a good chance of making the November ballot. By the end of April, they reported that their paid canvassers had collected more than 112,000 signatures for the constitutional measure and nearly 105,000 for the statutory measure.

Gaming: United Auburn Indian tribe makes agreement with online gaming company - The United Auburn Indian Community, owners of Thunder Valley Casino, entered into a 10-year agreement with London-based Bwin.party Digital Entertainment PLC, the world’s largest listed online gaming company. The tribe doesn’t feature online gaming of any kind, but it took the step to forge this partnership should California law be changed to allow online gaming, said Doug Elmets, spokesman for the tribe. "Our belief is it that it is a matter of 'when' not 'if' online gaming becomes legal, and the UAIC wants to have a premiere partner when it comes to pass," Elmets said.

Gaming: Observers Optimistic Gun Lake Case Will Be Decided on a Narrow Legal Question - When the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Salazar v. Patchak on April 24, tribal advocates and Indian legal observers tried to face down their worst fears, having watched the high court hand down seven major rulings against tribal interests since Chief Justice John Roberts took the helm in September 2005. The court will likely announce their decision in June.

Gaming: Fife casino dealer claims employer forced her to gamble - A former poker dealer at Freddie's Club Casino in Fife is suing her old employer, claiming she was forced to gamble her own money on her own hours in order to keep the poker tables busy and attract more customers.

Gaming: Casino backers bet on a new vote - Backers of a huge private casino at the former greyhound racetrack east of Portland are shooting for another statewide vote, this time with sweeteners designed to woo voters who rejected their 2010 ballot initiative.

Gaming: Private casino backers want state vote - Backers of a huge private casino at the former greyhound racetrack east of Portland are shooting for another statewide vote, this time with sweeteners designed to woo voters who rejected their 2010 ballot initiative. Matt Rossman and Bruce Studer, two Lake Oswego businessmen who have been seeking an exclusive right to build the state's lone private casino, are proposing a state constitutional amendment to allow unlimited private casinos, so long as each project wins voter approval and is more than 60 miles from tribal casinos.

Gaming: Is Oregon ready to double-down on another casino vote? - Two Lake Oswego businessmen who failed in 2010 said they will go back to voters this fall with a new plan that calls for an unlimited number of casinos. They said Oregon should go after the casino revenue and the jobs that follow before the Cowlitz Indian Tribe opens the Portland metro area's first casino in La Center, Wash. Comment: Yes, because the uberlords of Vancouver don't want a tribal casino bringing revenue and jobs to Clark County.

Gaming: Attack of the Indian-Gaming Fighter, and How the Blowback Against Tribal Gaming Has Evolved - Since IGRA, the real players in the Indian gaming opposition field have been members of Congress. ... Now there are legislators like Feinstein who say they support tribal sovereignty, but who want to limit gaming for some tribes. It is hard to determine the method in the madness of these new voices. What is most striking is that it is no longer outsiders who seem to have the most power in framing attacks on Indian gaming. That power now lies, ironically, with the 30 or so wealthy and well-connected tribes that are playing hardball behind the scenes, lobbying legislators to get the best outcomes for their casino deals, including limiting competition from nearby tribes. Comment: Like the Grand Ronde.

Gaming: LEED Casino Gambles On Embracing Sustainability - From their round-the-clock flashing lights to their all-you-can-eat (or throw away) buffets, casinos aren’t exactly known as paragons of green virtue. But as LEED certification now seems to have penetrated to the outer reaches of the known universe, it was only a matter of time until we had a LEED-certified casino, and here it is: Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, Ill., the newest casino in the Chicagoland area, has been awarded green certification at the Gold level by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Gaming: Ex-congressman suggests tribes work together - A former California congressman says the Mashpee Wampanoag have virtually no chance of securing the right to run a sovereign tribal casino in Southeastern Massachusetts and instead is urging that several tribes unite to run a commercial casino. Richard Pombo of California has written a letter to Gov. Deval Patrick suggesting that, for a variety of reasons, any federally recognized tribe "will simply be unable to meet the requirements for a (federally sanctioned Indian) casino at any time in the foreseeable future.

Gaming: Indian casinos still growing despite economy - In the Indian Gaming Industry Report released today, Alan Meister, an economist with the international economic consulting firm of Nathan Associates Inc., writes that year-over-year revenues were up a little more than 1 percent at the nation's Indian casinos in 2010. During that same period, revenues were down .1 percent at commercial casinos nationwide, Meister reported.

Gaming: Casinos' anti-compulsive bet programs vary widely - Arnie Wexler travels the country giving training sessions to casino employees on how to spot potential compulsive gamblers and what to do if they encounter any. The casino industry has two main motivations in dealing with problem gamblers, said Alan Feldman, a vice president at MGM Resorts International, and chairman of the National Center for Responsible Gaming. "There is a strong belief among many of the casino executives that there is a moral obligation to do this," he said. "But there's also a strong business reason: Problem gamblers make for lousy customers. By their very nature, they will turn into bad debt.

Gaming: True no-limit poker eludes Washington - The Pacific Northwest has more than 20 poker rooms, but what you may not know is Washington has a uniform gambling law that applies to all casino wagering, including poker: No single bet can exceed $500.

Gaming: Casinos passing up sizeable portion of market - While the state doesn’t tax tribal casinos, the incidental spending by patrons injects billions of dollars into the surrounding economies. A new gambler niche would add to those interests.

Gaming: Saturation not a concern, gambling proponents say - Two months after the Oak Tree Casino opened, rumors continue to swirl about as many as three more cardrooms going live in Woodland later this year, city officials said. Such developments, if they occurred, would give Woodland as many cardrooms as La Center -- four. The prospect of eight cardrooms fewer than 10 miles apart -- not to mention a proposed tribal casino off Interstate 5 in La Center -- has some observers questioning when more gambling outlets would result in dwindling returns for the cities they call home.

Gaming: Panel Set For Senate Hearing On Online Poker and Gaming - The United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has announced the panel of witnesses scheduled to testify at the upcoming February 9 hearing entitled by Senate lawmakers as an "Oversight Hearing on the U.S. Department of Justice Opinion on Internet Gaming: What’s at Stake for Tribes."

Gaming: Stakes raised for cities as new cardroom opens - Woodland, a city known for its freeway-stop business district and blue-collar workers, has now placed a bet that its new Oak Tree cardroom can take a $7.3 million bite out of the casino business in neighboring La Center. And the stakes will be even higher when the owners of Woodland’s new casino build a planned 15-table annex, already approved for the old Parr Lumber site behind the Oak Tree.

Gaming: Casino Battle Royale and OPE Oil Sands - The two guys from Lake Oswego who want Oregonians to approve a giant casino in east Multnomah County are back again. Last week, Matt Rossman and Bruce Studer got approval to begin gathering signatures for a constitutional amendment that would allow for private casinos in Oregon.

Gaming: Washington's Tribal Economic Contribution Grows - Washington's tribal economic activity: Tribal governments paid $1.3 billion in wages and benefits in 2010 to 27,376 employees, 66% of them non-tribal members; purchased $2.4 billion in goods and services from local businesses near their enterprises and from the broader state economy. "We're proud of the contribution we are making on our reservations and to Washington's overall economy," said W. Ron Allen, chair of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe and president of the Washington Indian Gaming Association.

Gaming: State lacks facts on gambling addiction; Industry has grown, including locally, since last study in 1999 - The state of Washington, as a whole, has taken steps to reduce gambling addiction in the past decade. Just how successful the state has been is difficult to say, however; no recent study exists on the problem, even as gambling has mushroomed into a $2.5-billion industry. The Cowlitz Indian Tribe has proposed paying no less than $50,000 annually, once its casino opens in La Center, toward problem gaming programs designated by Clark County. There is no timeline for when the casino would open.

Gaming: In Foxborough, a Competing Casino Gets a 'No' From Selectmen - A casino proposal that could potentially compete with one in Milford has a new obstacle. Selectmen in that town voted 3-2 to refuse to negotiate with a developer who wants to build a casino near Gillette Stadium.

Gaming: Web gambling gets boost from Obama administration - The Obama administration cleared the way for states to legalize Internet poker and certain other online betting in a switch that may help them reap billions in tax revenue and spur web-based gambling.

Gaming: Barriers to Tribal Gaming Expansion Remain High - The DOI has potentially established an administrative fix to a problem created by the Supreme Court's 2009 Carcieri decision. The agency's interpretation of the ruling led it to take land into trust for the benefit of Oregon's Cowlitz Tribe, which was not federally recognized until 2000.

Gaming: The Columbian gives a mild "jeer" for the new Oak Tree Casino, opening Saturday in Woodland - "The cardroom will offer several types of games and is likely to bring a large volume of additional business to the existing restaurant where it will be housed. The city stands to collect some useful tax revenue, too."

Gaming: Woodland’s Oak Tree card room opens - Saturday’s opening culminated months of preparation, but some final details came down to the wire. The establishment received official confirmation of its state gambling license only a day earlier, said general manager and part owner Chuck McCormick.

Gaming: Effort To Establish Non-Tribal Casino Begins Again In Oregon - Two Oregon businessmen are trying once again to get voters to approve the state's first non-tribal casino. It will be the fourth attempt, and once again the casino petition effort is drawing heat from the Grand Ronde tribe, which has a gaming center about 70 miles southwest of Portland.

Gaming: Woodland casino set to open - The Oak Tree Restaurant in Woodland will open its first cardroom to the public Saturday morning. Despite that The Columbian newspaper, owned by Scott Campbell, mounted an ongoing campaign against the proposed Cowlitz Tribal Casino and devoted a lot of ink in opposition, from the outset it briefly expressed only mild disapproval for the Woodland non-Indian casino. Not that we would ever suggest that the newspaper's publisher is racist. There must be a perfectly reasonable explanation for the apparent hypocrisy.

Gaming: Woodland's Oak Tree ready to deal in cardrooms - The cardroom, which will be called Oak Tree Casino, will be spacious and upscale, making it unique from other area cardrooms.

Gaming: Expanding Washington gambling to nontribal casinos - Revenues would be less than projected by gambling proponents, while proceeds from tribal government gaming go to pay for essential government services.

Gaming: Open up electronic gambling beyond tribal casinos to generate more state revenue - Under a Washington state compact, only tribal gambling operations can provide electronic gambling. Guest columnist Chris Kealy suggests the Legislature expand that authority to nontribal cardrooms, which would generate taxes to help the state's budget crisis.

Gaming: Casino proponents back for another try - Backers of an attempt to create the state’s first non-tribal casino and entertainment complex, which was rejected by Oregon voters in November 2010, may try their luck again at the next election.

Gaming: Coveting tribes' gains; looking busy in Olympia; Everett probers - Republican trial balloon a slap at the Democratic-leaning tribes.

Gaming: GOP sees expanded gambling as state budget solution - Republicans say they have an alternative to Democrat-proposed tax increases to help balance the Washington state budget. They want to let nontribal casinos offer the same slot machines as tribal casinos, with the state getting a piece of the revenue.

Gaming: Casino-rich tribes might be shrewd to share more

Gaming: Precarious Profits: Adding slot machines at cardrooms is the wrong way to solve budget problems

Gaming: PPA Supports Online Poker for Indian Tribes

Gaming: Internet Gaming’s Impact on Tribes to be Closely Studied

Gaming: Native American tribes demand equal footing, sovereignty if Internet gambling allowed in US

Gaming: Hearing airs tribes' issues with Internet gambling

Gaming: State tax ideas pop up: Sales tax increase, expansion of slot machines among them

Woodland restaurant seeks cardroom permit

Woodland restaurant seeks cardroom permit