Snoqualmie Tribe explores investment in a casino operation in Fiji
January 25, 2012
By Staff
In its latest business venture the Snoqualmie Tribe is looking all the way to Fiji.
The Fijian government announced Dec. 27 its decision to grant the nation’s first exclusive gambling license to One Hundred Sands, which has announced plans to build a $290 million, five-star luxury casino resort on Denarau Island, in a partnership with the Snoqualmie Tribe.
In a telephone interview, Larry Claunch, chairman of One Hundred Sands, said he and the tribe have been talking for about five months, and while the tribe hasn’t yet put any money into the deal, they are negotiating the tribe’s financial stake. The tribe has committed to joining the venture as a partner, Claunch said, and will have ownership in the casino, as well as an active advisory role.
He said the conversations got started with Snoqualmie Tribal Administrator Matt Mattson first, when Mattson traveled to Fiji and investigated the possibilities.
The new venture is a long way — nearly 6,000 miles — from the tribe’s casino, which opened in 2008 with a $330 million debt.
The tribe swung open the doors right at the bottom of the recession and in the middle of one of the worst winters in years. The tribe’s budget, built on rosier expectations, cratered.
The tribe has since restructured its debt, and the casino is doing better, reports by outside analysts show, and its bond rating has improved.
Claunch said he beat out more than 50 other competitors for the sole gambling license granted by the Fijian government, in part he said because of his inclusion of a Native American tribe in the venture. He said that was important to him personally, because he liked the operations tribes run in the United States. Of the Snoqualmies, he said, “I have visited their casino and it’s spectacular. I so admire the work they have done.”
The news, first reported in the Fiji Times, was controversial in Washington state.
“It’s hurting our tribe. It’s pretty sad,” said Kanium Ventura, elected to the tribal council in September 2007.
He was later suspended by the council in an internal dispute, a move later overturned by the tribal court, but then renewed by the tribal council again.
“They are supposed to take this to the membership,” Ventura said. “There is no benefits for us at Fiji. I don’t think it will make much.”
Other tribes have looked at gambling operations in other locations, including the Muckleshoot, which for a time looked into partnering in a tribally owned casino in Las Vegas — before dropping the idea.
But the Snoqualmies are believed to be the first tribe in Washington, and perhaps the country, according to W. Ron Allen, chairman of the executive committee of the Washington Indian Gaming Association and chairman of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, to enter into a gambling operation overseas.
The latest move by the Snoqualmies comes at a time when the tribe is struggling with other issues, including an enrollment audit in response to allegations that many tribal members, including some of its leaders, don’t meet the one-eighth blood-quantum requirement in the tribe’s constitution to be a Snoqualmie.
The tribe less than a year ago spent $14 million to buy out the contract of its former casino CEO’s employment contract.
The first phase of the Fiji project will include a luxury resort and casino with 500 slot machines, convention center and banquet facilities.
In a prepared statement, Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama said the venture “provides a malleable fusion between the Western ideas of casino gaming with the strong cultural values of tribal and community life.”
Groundbreaking is proposed in March.
Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.
Comments
One Response to “Snoqualmie Tribe explores investment in a casino operation in Fiji”
Got something to say?
Before you comment, please note:
- These comments are moderated.
- Comments should be relevant to the topic at hand and contribute to its discussion.
- Personal attacks and/or excessive profanity will not be tolerated and such comments will not be approved.
- This is not your personal chat room or forum, so please stay on topic.
Why would any sane business minded person want to go into a partnership with someone that has debt, in this case $330 million of debt. No offense to the Snoqualmie Tribe. I am 100% Fijian and belong to a tribe that also has land, lots of it, but i a Finance Major here in the United States know that the land i have now is not for me alone but i am saving it for my grandchildren to have something written under their name when they are born. I support your desires to develop, my country could do with development and maybe the casino is going to help my kinsman with employment, but as a Finance major i believe One Hundred Sands should be very informative with how the deal is going to go down as they know about the debts that have been incurred, my concern is why your tribe and not another? You have banished experienced people from your tribe, so what is your value in all this? Why cant One hundred Sands put up all the finance or go to another that has money and a good credit. They already have the license to operate a casino so ask yourselves why you and all your debt.