PORT ANGELES – The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe has notified other local governments that it might open a casino, but it would be years before it opened.
“We wanted to start the conversation,” said Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles on Wednesday, adding that the process of getting permission from the state and the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs takes at least five years.
A small gambling operation, tribal officials say, could be placed on the reservation or on land the Lower Elwha own on west U.S. Highway 101.
Much more immediate are the tribe’s plans to move its police department into new quarters, to open a skills center in downtown Port Angeles, and to expand its drug rehabilitation services.
The tribe has included a casino in its long-range plans for the past 10 years.
It once operated a bingo parlor in its tribal center at 2851 Lower Elwha Road until other programs took over the room.
Reports that the tribe might open a casino surfaced after Lower Elwha officials told other governments in Clallam County that it was considering starting a gambling operation.
Such notification is required by the state and the federal BIA.
