COWLITZ INDIAN RESERVATION — Speeches that started at 10 a.m., meant to encapsulate the yearslong journey to build the Ilani Casino Resort and thank the many people involved, were interrupted by a rambunctious Monday morning mob. They chanted, “Open! Open! Open!”
Then, just a few minutes later, residents from all over the Vancouver-Portland metro area were introduced to Ilani — pronounced Ay-Lan-Ay — and the walls of slot machines, table games and restaurants inside the 368,000-square-foot complex. From the south entrance, one could see the cascade of first visitors break into streams as they moved past the slot machines.
“You can never have too many casinos,” said Debbie Bliss, 59, who attended the opening with two of her sisters. The trio regularly visit Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City, Ore. Dedicated to the games, they said they plan to return to Chinook Winds sometimes — but not as much.
“We’ll still go to Chinook Winds because we do a 16-woman beach trip every August,” Brenda Bruso, one of the sisters, said.
“But we’ll be here every week,” third sister Bonnie Hunter said.
The sisters were among hundreds of the first casino visitors who withstood rain and cold winds to stand under the casino’s colossal portico. After speeches from casino executives, including President and General Manager Kara Fox-LaRose, the ribbon was cut.
“I feel great,” said Fox-LaRose, who took the job in December 2015. “It has been an amazing experience here to be involved from the ground-up.”
So starts the reign of Ilani Casino Resort, jointly developed by the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut. Construction on the $510 million casino broke ground January 2016, alongside a $32 million overhaul of a nearby Interstate 5 interchange designed to handle 4.5 million annual visitors. The casino arrives with just over 3,000 parking spaces and capacity of about 13,500 in the building, according to casino officials. An official head count for opening day was not available.
The casino was designed by architecture firm Friedmutter Group and built by San Francisco-based construction outfit, Swinerton Builders. It will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A 400-room hotel could be built in the next two years, Cowlitz Tribal Chairman Bill Iyall said.
Iyall, who became chairman of the tribe in 1998, oversaw its efforts to become a recognized tribe in the eyes of the federal government and then secure the 152-acre plot on which the casino now sits. He said Monday the tribe has a lot of strategizing to do now that they have the revenues streaming in, but, after more than a decade of work, the casino’s opening was “a bit overwhelming.”
“It’s going to be a busy week,” he said, rattling off tribal issues to be addressed with the money, including health care, housing and education. “Lots of needs to attend to.”
At its debut, Ilani features nine restaurants, three retail stores, 75 gaming tables and 2,500 slot machines. The first week of its opening will feature a number of free concerts, largely from tribute bands. Susan Poppe, a Canby, Ore., resident who woke up at 5:30 a.m. to become one of the first in line, said she’s excited to play but there’s “so much more to do than gamble.”
Many gambling enthusiasts were retired or self-employed, though a few said they took the day off. Chuck Crider, a 43-year-old Vancouver resident, said he told his boss Monday that he would be at Ilani’s grand opening.
“It’s clean, very bright, very inviting. The staff is very attentive, I had a slot act up and they were right there within five minutes,” he said.
Steve Paulson, a 66-year-old trucker from Kelso, said he and his wife felt the casino had a business-like atmosphere that they couldn’t shake.
“It’s day one, we’ll give them that. But the atmosphere isn’t the same,” he said.
Many simply said they were happy to give back to the tribes. Jan Thomas, a 69-year-old Battle Ground resident, was happy to see Cowlitz tribe land open its long awaited casino after years of being ignored by the government.
“I’m excited to be here to celebrate the Native American culture,” she said.
