Smoke signals., September 15, 2018, Page 9, Image 9

SEPTEMBER 15, 2018
S moke S ignals
9
General Council hears positive casino report
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
Eighteen months after losing the
coveted position of being the closest
casino to the Portland-Vancouver
metropolitan area, things are going
well at Spirit Mountain Casino in
that they are nowhere near as bad
had some estimated.
In April 2017, the Cowlitz Tribe
opened its Ilani casino 16 miles
north of the Portland metro area
and right off heavily traveled In-
terstate 5.
Original estimates of the finan-
cial impact that Ilani would have
on the Grand Ronde Tribe’s casino
on Salmon River Highway were
staggering, ranging from a 34.4
percent to a 41.3 percent decrease
in revenue.
In 2017, casino management
budgeted for a 27.8 percent de-
cline in revenue in anticipation of
Ilani’s opening. Between May and
September 2017, the casino saw a
13.7 percent decrease. And for the
last quarter in 2017, revenue was
down only 6.4 percent.
Spirit Mountain Casino General
Manager Stan Dillon delivered a lot
of good numbers during his 41-min-
ute presentation to the membership
at the Sunday, Sept. 9, General
Council meeting.
Dillon said the casino has seen
revenue exceed budget by 2.6 per-
cent through the first seven months
of 2018 and revenue is only 1.8
percent behind 2017.
More importantly, dividend sent
to the Tribe to fund the government
and membership programs so far
this year is 12.5 percent
higher than anticipated.
But all is not good news.
The casino is still dealing
with difficulty in hiring
staff, which is affected by
the state’s historically low
3.9 percent unemployment
rate and wage competition
exacerbated by the casino’s
location 25 miles away from
a major population center.
Dillon reported that Ilani
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
is also affecting the Oregon
State Lottery, which is down Spirit Mountain Casino General Manager
15 percent overall and even Stan Dillon answers questions after
more in the north Portland the casino update was given during the
General Council meeting held in the Tribal
area.
“They are a major compet- Community Center on Sunday, Sept. 9.
itor and will continue to be a
and the casino is helped by offering
major competitor,” Dillon said, not-
participation games that are not
ing that Ilani will eventually build
yet available in Washington state.
a hotel to complement its casino.
She added that the casino will
Casino Marketing Director Shaw-
attempt
to book more tribute acts
na Ridgebear said that Coyote Club
in
2019,
such as Neil Diamond
membership has only declined 5.2
tribute
band
Super Diamond out
percent in its “battle zones” since the
of Portland. She reported that the
opening of Ilani and that projected
Sept. 15 Three Dog Night concert
customer declines based on location
at the casino has sold out.
have not been as severe as expected.
Gaming Operations Director Lon
For instance, it was estimat-
O’Donnell
continued the casino
ed that the casino would see a
presentation
by reporting that the
44.3-percent decline in customers
casino has 175 new slot machines,
from Portland; in reality, the de-
127 upgraded slots and that 402
cline is a notch below 20 percent.
slots, or 23 percent, have been im-
And the good news is that Salem
proved in some manner.
clients are actually increasing
The casino also has brought back
thanks to Spirit Mountain market-
popular
card game Spanish 21 and
ing efforts in the state capital.
single-deck
blackjack, and now
Ridgebear said the casino has
uses hand-held keno devices, which
worked to retain VIPs through
speed up the process threefold.
targeted database marketing and
He also touted the new Viz Ex-
aggressive retention programs,
plorer system, which has casino
employees responding to broken
slot machines and jackpot winners
faster than industry average.
Dillon added the Spirit Mountain
Lodge will remodel 105 of its oldest
rooms and create eight mini-suites
and update 14 existing suites. A
second phase will remodel and
update the remaining 127 rooms.
Lodge remodel work will start after
Jan. 1.
Dillon fielded three questions and
comments from the membership.
In other action, it was announced
that the next General Council meet-
ing will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday,
Oct. 7, in the Tribal Community
Center, 9615 Grand Ronde Road.
Election Board Vice Chair Mi-
chael Mercier delivered the 2018
Tribal Council results, which saw
incumbents Cheryle A. Kennedy
and Jon A. George re-elected and
returned former Tribal Council
member Steve Bobb Sr. to the
nine-member governing board.
Eric Bernando, Sean Gerbrandt
and Jonathan R. George won the $100
door prizes and Kristina Helfrich,
Gary Shortt, Joanna Brisbois, Victor
Cureton and Robert Wiggs won the
$50 door prizes. Wiggs donated his
winnings to the family of Margaret
Provost, who walked on on Aug. 30.
Bernando and Tribal Council
Secretary Jon A. George performed
the cultural drumming and singing
to open the meeting.
The entire meeting can be viewed
by visiting the Tribal website at
www.grandronde.org and clicking
on the News tab and then Video. 
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