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Opinion: Benefits from Casinos such as the Cow Creek's Seven Feathers Hotel and Casino Resort go far beyond tribes themselves providing meaningful employment and significant increases in tourism.
by Dennis Roler
Indian casinos in Oregon have been an economic boon to much of the state, not just to the tribes that operate them.
A study done for the Oregon Tourism Commission shows that both jobs and tourism spending have grown faster in the eight counties with casinos than in the 28 other counties.
Tourist spending grew 8.4 percent annually in the eight casino counties from 1993, when the first casino opened, to 1998 compared with 5 percent elsewhere. Employment in the eight grew at a 6.4 percent rate compared with 2.7 percent elsewhere during the same period.
Perhaps the most surprising finding of the study was how popular the Indian casinos have become in just seven years, rivaling even the state's natural wonders in their tourist pulling power. In fact, the most popular casino, Spirit Mountain in Grand Ronde, has bumped longtime No. 1 attraction Multnomah Falls as the top Oregon destination by drawing an estimated 3 million visitors last year.
Rogue Valley residents may feel that all this good news doesn't apply to them, because no Indian casino is located in Josephine or Jackson county. However, some of this success has undoubtedly spilled over into the Rogue Valley.
For example, thanks to their success, the Cow Creek Indians employ more than 1,000 people, about 800 of them at their Seven Feathers Casino and Resort in Canyonville. Some of these people live in Josephine County.
In addition, the increase in tourist traffic Seven Feathers and the other casinos have generated probably means more tourists stopping in Josephine County for meals, gas, lodging, a jet boat trip or for other purchases.
Josephine County causes also benefit from the grants awarded by the Cow Creeks under an agreement with the state allowing the tribe to conduct casino gambling. In December, the tribe distributed $418,691 in grants.
Three of the largest grants, $20,000 each, went to Josephine County groups: the Siskiyou Community Health Center, Communiversity in Williams and the Josephine County Library Foundation.
One thing the new study does not touch on is how the casinos help their most important group, tribal members. The casinos offer them jobs and other benefits from scholarships to medical aid. Many need that assistance. For example, Indians were more than twice as likely as Americans in general to live in poverty in 1989, according to the Census Bureau.
For some people, gambling will be wrong morally, no matter how much good it does. They are certainly entitled to their opinions.
However, there is much to be said for Oregon’s Indian casinos. They help tribal members. And, as the new study confirms, the benefits go well beyond reservations and tribal members.
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