The casino's general contractor was Skanska USA, which had already built impressive Seattle structures including McCaw Hall (321 Mercer Street) and Benaroya Hall (200 University Street). The Snoqualmie Casino was designed by Bergman, Walls & Associates - a Las Vegas-based firm responsible for other gaming resorts including that city's standout, The Mirage. But then in 2006 the BIA granted federal reservation status to the 57-acre site (on the north side of SE North Bend Way and on the east side of 372nd Avenue SE) that the Snoqualmie Tribe had selected. But it was an uphill battle - one that would ultimately take five more years to again approvals from agencies including the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the National Indian Gaming Commission.

In 2002 the tribe successfully negotiated a compact with the Washington State Gambling Commission, and the initial hope was to open in the fall of 2007. That was the critical bureaucratic victory that allowed them to proceed with the dream to create a facility that would offer more than 700 new jobs, and provide income to support tribal services. Unrecognized by that government - in part because they had no reservation lands - the tribe (with its 600 members) finally won a petition that granted them official tribal status in 1999. Following the lead of other Washington tribes - including the Tulalips, Muckleshoots, Puyallups, Kalispels, and the Chehalis Confederated Tribes - who had already successfully launched casinos, the Snoqualmies had the advantage of picking a site closest to the population base of Seattle.īut the Snoqualmies' disadvantages were not insignificant: once the Puget Sound region's most populous tribe, they had - ever since a mid-nineteenth century chief ceded all of their lands to the U.S. In late-2003 news broke publicly that the Snoqualmie Tribe was exploring the idea of constructing a $60 million gambling casino near the small, circa 1889, lumber railroad town of Snoqualmie (just off of Interstate 90 at Exit 27). The casino - a dream project for the Snoqualmie Tribe - is also one that was a long time in the making. Located 30 miles east of downtown Seattle, the 170,000-square-foot facility features a 51,000-square-foot gaming floor, an 11,000-square-foot ballroom, a nightclub, a fine dining restaurant, a cigar lounge, and a six-level parking garage. on the Thursday evening, November 6, 2008, the Snoqualmie Casino holds its Grand Opening event.

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