Tribal gambling raises the limit

Skip indignation and go straight to resignation. That is the best advice for anyone upset over expanding tribal gambling in Washington. The tribes and state government tussle over details, but the federal-backed house wins.

Earlier this month, the state Gambling Commission recommended that Gov. Christine Gregoire support a state compact with the Spokane Tribe of Indians that ends almost two decades of lawsuits and hard feelings over illegal slot machines. The agreement, the first with the Spokane Tribe, may well be the template for a master compact with 20 other tribes that operate 25 casinos around the state. Federal endorsement by the secretary of the Interior is required, but a "no" is highly unlikely. Ever since Congress passed the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, there has not been a lot of resistance in the bureaucracy or the courts to the discretion of these sovereign nations.

The plan before the governor is better than a version she refused to support in 2005, but the numbers and changes are significant. Gregoire could contest this compact, but it would be subject to federal appeal.

Take a look at the deal with the Spokane Tribe to see the face of Indian gambling to come in this state.

• Two casinos would grow to five, including a proposed $67 million casino-hotel complex off the reservation in suburban Spokane. That call goes straight to the feds.

• The Spokanes' illegal slots would be swapped to conform with the video-gambling models legal here, but the tribe would get 4,700 of them. Some could take coins and cash, and accept $20 bets. All that is new. Any slots beyond the first 900 would have to be leased from other tribes.

• Other lucrative wrinkles include higher betting limits, and no-limit betting for pre-screened customers.

Compacts are the coin of the realm for negotiating financing on casino expansions. They represent potential earnings, and the more generous the terms, the greater the borrowing power. Someone out there with a lot of money to loan or bonds to sell apparently believes in the existence of an infinite number of suckers.

Tribes can point with pride toward improved living conditions paid for with gambling revenues, especially in health care. Some tribes, the Tulalips come to mind, have leveraged their winnings into a diverse line of job-creating enterprises. They are wise to bet there can be too many casinos.

Washington does not share in Indian gaming proceeds, which is for the best. If Olympia had a stake in the proceeds, there would be precious little restraint on growth and no credible appearance of regulatory distance.

For the state's gamblers, they seem content to make heavy-duty, Las Vegas-style gambling a destination visit, and not something in the neighborhood. Bigger perhaps, but not closer.