Should Oregon allow casinos off tribal lands?

Bruce Studer and Matt Rossman formed the Good For Oregon organization to petition for turning the former Multnomah Kennel Club into a destination resort casino. But first, they have to amend a law that bans casinos on non-tribal lands in the state.

In a Taxpayer Association straw poll responders were asked whether they would approve of a casino being built in Oregon off tribal lands. Of almost 1000 responders, three out of four said “no”.

No: 74%
Yes: 26%
Total Respondents: 967

Some of the Key arguments for and against…

Proponents say: Imagine if a company was considering Oregon for a project that will create thousands of new jobs. Imagine if this business paid nearly $200 million in taxes every year to benefit k-12 public education and other vital local services. Imagine if that business didn’t request a dime of taxpayer subsidy or special treatment to build and operate the facility.

Critics say: It will cut into the tribe’s revenues stream and might impact existing lottery revenues. Gambling addiction might rise and it may not be fiscally prudent to rely so heavily on a single source of revenue (what if projects don’t pan out? what if they have a bad year?)