ANACORTES — With rapid growth and federal budget cuts straining the Samish Indian Nation, the Skagit County-based tribe is looking to a casino to help pay for its health-care, education, housing and cultural programs.

Gaming has long been an important source of revenue and one of the main sources of economic development for Washington's 29 tribes, and 22 have at least one casino. For the Samish, whose economic growth was stunted by decades without federal funding, a casino could be a serious financial boost.

For 27 years, the tribe had little to offer its members. The Samish were mistakenly dropped from the Bureau of Indian Affairs' register of tribes in 1969. The tribe couldn't receive government cash for programs, and froze its membership as it struggled to get back on the list.

When a decades-long legal battle ended and the tribe was added back to the register 15 years ago, Samish membership leapt from 600 to almost 1,500 people, Tribal Chairman Tom Wooten said.

But the tribe also doesn't have a reservation to offer members, and few have been able to find jobs and stay near their Skagit County homeland, Wooten said.

Now, hoping to help fund services and create jobs for its members, the tribe is taking the first steps toward building a casino on a 14-acre site along Highway 20.

In July, the tribe, along with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, notified the Department of the Interior that it is preparing an environmental-impact statement analyzing everything from traffic to water resources and socioeconomics near the property, to see if a casino is worth the gamble.

One casino already

For the nearby Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, a casino has been a cash cow.

The Swinomish own the Northern Lights Casino two miles from the potential Samish casino site.

The casino helps the tribe pay for everything from $24,000 scholarships for students headed to college to 24-hour police coverage and a multimillion-dollar medical clinic, Swinomish Tribal Chairman Brian Cladoosby said.

Despite the recession, the tribe's gaming has been booming, Cladoosby said, and the tribe is building a 100-room hotel next to the casino.

Cladoosby said he hadn't heard about the possible Samish casino and couldn't speculate on what having another gambling site two miles away would mean for his tribe.

The Samish purchased the undeveloped 14-acre field along Highway 20 in 2008, and attorney Craig Dorsay said it's the tribe's only property that is feasible for a casino.

If the tribe does decide to move forward, it would be years before the casino is built.

The Samish first need to put the land into federal trust for gaming purposes, which would exempt it from state and local taxes and regulations. The area is zoned for light manufacturing. Once the Samish tribe turns in an application, there's no timeline or guarantee of its approval.

"Some tribes get it done in three months and some 10 years," Dorsay said.

After that would come design and construction.

Machine rentals

The Samish already depend heavily on gaming. Under a compact with the state, all Washington tribes are permitted to profit from gaming machines, which they lease at casinos across Washington. The tribe rents 975 machines to other tribal casinos and uses much of the money it receives for social programs, Wooten said.

The tribe has about $29 million in total assets, Wooten said, and much of its revenue is from renting gaming machines.

"If we didn't have that, we wouldn't be able to provide the services that people need," Wooten said.

But unlike gaming machines, a casino also would create jobs in Anacortes — where, Wooten said, they are in short supply.

Over the years, Samish tribal members have dispersed across the Northwest and the country, Wooten said, only a few having been able to find family-wage jobs in their Skagit County homeland.

"I grew up here in Anacortes," Wooten said. "I've seen this town go from a fishing town to a mill town to now it's a vacation and resort elders' town. It's kind of sad because those jobs aren't there."

At Washington reservations with successful casinos, such as the Swinomish's, 2010 census data showed the Native American populations had increased by 19 percent since 2000. Overall, Native American populations on reservations increased by only 10 percent.

The Northern Lights Casino creates 300 local jobs, 85 percent of which are held by non-Native Americans, Cladoosby said.

Anacortes Mayor Dean Maxwell and City Council members said they would prefer to see manufacturing jobs come to the area, including those from a proposed beverage-bottling plant.

"I don't think Anacortes wants another casino," City Councilman Bill Turner said. "I think the people would say, 'We already have one casino ... we don't need another one.' "

Maxwell said he couldn't forecast what a Samish casino would mean for Anacortes and said he is waiting to see a formal proposal.

The tribe will hold public meetings and talk with the city as it continues to evaluate how to use the land, Wooten said.

The Samish Indian Nation and the city have a good relationship, Maxwell said. He and Wooten were a few years apart in school, and the mayor knew the previous tribal chairman for years as well.

"Back before politics and before complications, this was our collective community, and I think everybody that lives here understood that we work together," Maxwell said. "It hasn't really been an issue."

Information from Seattle Times archives was included in this report.

Jessie Van Berkel: 206-464-3192 or jvanberkel@seattletimes.com