By KATHY ANEY
EO Media Group
The Wildhorse Resort & Casino knows how to grow.
Twenty-two years ago, the establishment was a collection
of 100 slot machines inside a temporary fi ve-wide trailer. The
tiny casino evolved over the next two decades into an enter-
tainment complex replete with luxury hotel, 18-hole golf
course, Cineplex, event center, sports bars, parking garage
and a sprawling gaming area alive with the lights and sounds
of 1,200 machines.
If the tribe’s General Council and Board of Trustees agree,
the tribal casino will expand once again — and in grand
fashion.
Wildhorse CEO Gary George recently shared a long list of
proposed changes and preliminary designs with the Confed-
erated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Board of
Trustees. The updates include a second hotel tower, bowling
alley, horse arena, new concert venue, parking garage, spa,
added meeting spaces and other additions.
George said the bowling alley drove the expansion. Since
closure of Rodeo Lanes in Pendleton, tribal members and
the community at large have requested that the tribe add
bowling. The diversifi cation also would bring Wildhorse to a
place where it could survive with or without gambling.
“At some point in time, gaming will come to an end. This
is a means to diversify,” George said. “In the end, gaming
like everything else is kind of cyclical. In the past, it’s come
and gone.”
George said the renovation will cost in the neighbor-
hood of $70-80 million with an additional $20 million for
architectural design, furniture and fi xtures, building permits,
infrastructure and other soft costs.
The CEO said he expects about a two-year construction
schedule with the 228-room hotel, bowling alley and four
more theaters fi rst on the list. Once that’s fi nished, the resort’s
older 100-room hotel will come down, leaving the clean
lines of twin towers rising above the grasslands, visible to
motorists on Interstate 84 for miles.
George envisions a 32-lane bowling complex with 16
lanes on either side of a centrally located gathering spot.
“It will be an area with chairs and sofas so people can
gather and watch and have a sandwich,” he said.
The area might also include spectator seating so people
can more easily watch bowling tournaments, which the resort
hopes to attract. The bowling center may include a pro shop
and meeting/party rooms with private lanes.
Image contributed by Wildhorse
A second hotel tower will rise from the Wildhorse Resort & Casino in the future.
The expansion will also include a 32-lane bowling alley, horse arena and new
concert venue, among other improvements.
Image contributed by Wildhorse
A second hotel tower will rise from the Wildhorse Resort & Casino in the future.
The expansion will also include a 32-lane bowling alley, horse arena, parking
garage and ballroom, among other improvements.