What Brown didn't say specifically is that at the same time she opposes the expansion of tribal gambling, the Oregon Lottery is engaged in aggressive expansion plans of its own.Īnd, as first reported by The Washington Times, those plans include the lottery's first-ever partnership with another tribe: the Cow Creek, the main opponents of the Coquille's expansion-and a significant contributor to Brown's election campaigns. 'State support for even a single, modest additional casino is likely to lead to significant efforts to expand gaming across Oregon, to the detriment of public welfare,' Brown wrote in an April 13, 2016, letter to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.).īrown invoked the traditional Oregon rationale for opposing the expansion of tribal casinos. The proposed Coquille location is 70 miles south of Seven Feathers.įor the past six years, Brown and her predecessors have opposed the Coquille's proposal, as have U.S. This presented a problem for the Cow Creek tribe, which currently owns the only Oregon casino on I-5. In 2012, the Coquille, who already operate a casino called the Mill, in North Bend, applied to federal officials to build a second casino on land near I-5 they'd bought in South Medford. Because of its location adjacent to I-5, industry sources say it's among Oregon's highest-grossing casinos, behind the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde's Spirit Mountain Casino.

Oregon's oldest tribal casino is Cow Creek's Seven Feathers casino, located in Canyonville, 27 miles south of Roseburg. Documents show the agency ranks 'close proximity tribal gaming' a major threat and 'tribal partnerships' a major opportunity. The Oregon Lottery's strategic plan captures the state's conflicted relationship with tribal gambling. That's in part because the governor and the Oregon Lottery she oversees have their own plans for expanding gambling.

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