LINCOLN CITY, Ore., Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Martin Wheeler, one of the go-getter executives who buzz all over the Chinook Winds Casino, will never forget the time they booked George Jones into the showroom. (OK, it's a bingo hall, but it converts nicely.)
Eleven hundred people made their way through the striking
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Chinook Winds lobby, with its dramatic escalators, exposed blond wood and towering fake trees -- and, after the concert was over, they filed right back out again and ordered up their cars from the free valet parker.
Most of them never even crossed the threshold of the gaming floor.
That's what happens when you forget that tried-and-true rule of casino design -- always put the showroom at the most remote place in the building, so that you have to walk past EVERY gaming area to get there.
'It's not a good setup,' said Wheeler. 'They can take a left in the lobby and not gamble at all.'
Of course, the other lesson learned is that George Jones is just not the right match for this bustling little casino on the dramatic Oregon seacoast. But you can forgive the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians for still trying to work out the kinks. They've only been in this business since 1995, and they've had to fight and scrap for every little piece of the market they've captured.
The ironic thing about Chinook Winds is that it's by far the most beautiful and elaborate of Oregon's casinos, located in the most scenic place -- when you eat in the restaurant, you have a spectacular view of pounding surf and even an occasional migrating whale -- but it's separated from Portland, the state's population center, by three hours of narrow winding two-lane highway.
Chinook Winds is not the kind of casino that can attract people who sprint over after work, play a couple of hours, have a few drinks and go home. You've gotta have a major commitment to be at Chinook Winds -- unless you're independently wealthy, in which case you can take a helicopter there, in which case Chinook Winds will pick up the tab to haul you out there.
So Chinook Winds is a destination resort -- and yet it has no hotel! Lest you think this was an oversight, it was actually a compromise they made with the local owners of motels, inns and bed-and-breakfasts. When the new casino opened in 1995, it wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms. There was an organized effort to stop them, and the reason is that this is a very old resort area, perhaps the most beloved in Oregon, and the site of the summer homes of Oregon's elite.
Tiny resort communities like Oceanlake, Delake, Taft, Cutler City and Nelscott have been catering to a sedate outdoors-type tourist for many decades, and the idea of a casino that would suck all their business indoors was not a happy prospect. In fact, those six communities with seven miles of beachfront had banded together in 1964 as a sort of incorporated coastal tourist magnet -- together they all formed Lincoln City -- and at the time there was not even any Indian land within the corporate limits.
That changed with some aggressive politicking by the tribe. But the truth is, the only reason the Siletz Tribe targeted Lincoln City as a possible casino location is that they were run out of Salem -- their first choice -- by intense opposition.
It's one of those stories that's increasingly common in the world of Indian casinos. The Siletz, who are actually a confederation of 26 separate tribes, had ceased to exist in 1954, when the Bureau of Indian Affairs ruled that they had stopped functioning as tribes and were no longer in need of federal status. (At that time, economic self-sufficiency was reason enough to cut a tribe loose.)
It took an act of Congress to re-establish them in 1977, but by then their reservation was long gone. They still owned 3,660 acres, but it was scattered in small parcels all over the county. Of the original 1.3 million acres granted to them by executive order in 1855, they had sold or given away most of it, choosing to let the land go to individual members instead of remaining tribal land. Then, after being defunct for 23 years, the situation was a mess.
The problem for tribes that want to run casinos is that you can only have Class III gaming (the best kind) on what's called 'trust land,' which is land specifically set aside for an Indian reservation and held by the federal government for the benefit of that tribe. They didn't have any land like this that was suitable for gambling, but they forged ahead anyway, making up a list of nine sites and hoping they could convince authorities to let them buy and then convert the land into trust land.
The place they zeroed in on was a 16-acre parcel in Salem. But the governor was firmly opposed to the off-reservation acquisition of land for gambling. The Bureau of Indian Affairs supported the Siletz members at first, then backed off when the governor claimed that 'a casino in Salem would erode the social and moral fabric of the community and that quality of life would decline.' (Oddly enough, this was the same governor who had approved video poker in bars the same year. Video poker is commonly perceived in Oregon as a nuisance and a social problem, and is referred to as 'video crack.')
So the 3,600 tribal members took to the federal courts, suing for the right to acquire fee land and place it in trust. Meanwhile, the tribal attorney discovered that the governor had negotiated a gambling compact with another tribe -- the Grand Ronde, owners of Spirit Mountain -- that allowed them to use land that was not 'in trust.' (Actually the governor claimed to have made a mistake.) Claiming discrimination, the Siletz pressed the issue, and in November 1994, with the Oregon delegation pushing hard, they got Congress to enact a resolution declaring 11 acres
in Lincoln City 'in trust' and part of the Siletz reservation. (The property IS part of the original Siletz Reservation established in 1856, but then so is pretty much all of the land in the county.)
Despite opposition from a local 'No-Casino Association,' they dedicated a temporary casino just three months later and opened for business on May 27, 1995. The first building was known as 'The Tent' -- a testimony to how flimsy it was -- and contained just 250 slot machines, 12 tables and a deli. But the early revenue from that makeshift casino gave them enough income to build the $45 million casino and convention center complex they have now. It opened in the summer of 1996, with special guest Tammy Wynette kicking things off and skydivers performing.
Part of their unwritten deal with the city, though, was that they wouldn't threaten the local economy, which is based on tourism, especially summer tourism, when 59 small motels stay booked pretty much throughout the season. If anything, the casino lengthened the season, since gamblers tend to show up even in the dead of winter.
Their main strategy, as they try to coax people down that lonely highway from Portland, is to build up the convention business and to offer a lot of promotions -- car giveaways, Megabucks slots ('We have the only REAL slots in Oregon,' says Wheeler -- as opposed to video slots), and special events like 'Surf City,' their September festival and car show, and their 'Run for the Wind' motorcycle rally.
The best thing they've found so far, though, is boxing. They've had several major bouts, many of them televised, the latest one called 'Commotion on the Ocean II' and promoted by Sugar Ray Leonard. Main draw for the May 31 bout was James 'Lights Out' Toney, the 33-year-old former middleweight champ who has constantly ballooned up in weight through super middle, light heavy, cruiser, super cruiser and heavy weight classifications.
For his match against contender Michael Rush, he fought at 197 pounds (super cruiser) and stopped him on a TKO in the 10th round.
For such an isolated casino, they also have a pretty aggressive entertainment policy, putting on at least one show per month (two in the summer) with mostly B-level touring talent: Lorrie Morgan, Don Ho, Loretta Lynn, Paul Revere & the Raiders, 'Walela with Rita Coolidge' (she's billing it that way to take advantage of her 'Cherokee heritage'), Smokey Robinson, Williams & Ree, John Kay & Steppenwolf, Engelbert Humperdinck, the Beach Boys, and Three Dog Night. All the shows are on Friday and Saturday nights, when drive-ins from Portland and points east have time to spend the night.
The best places to stay, if you wanna hang close to the casino, are Surftides Inn on the Beach (154 rooms) and Shilo Oceanfront Resort (247 rooms), both of which are within easy walking distance. Surftides has a lounge that's popular with casino employees after work, but the hottest locals joint is actually in the casino itself -- the Rogue River Room & Lounge, which has comedy nights and karaoke nights, as well as typical lounge acts.
The casino's food and beverage director, Roo Arledge, is an Australian chanteuse who sometimes appears in the lounge herself. (She's a recent transplant from Nashville, where she handled food for the Opryland Hotel & Convention Center.) And the executive chef, both for the buffet and the more elaborate Rogue River Room, is Ed Wickman, who was formerly executive chef at Merrill Lynch world headquarters in the World Trade Center -- and went back there to serve meals to rescue workers after the attacks.
The brochure for the casino says that Chinook Winds 'respects nature and its infinite gifts.' In 1998, the last year for which statistics are available, nature's infinite gifts included 1.7 million visitors to the casino. A few of them came for 'Walela,' but most of them came for Moolah.
CHINOOK WINDS CASINO & CONVENTION CENTER
1777 NW 44th St., Lincoln City, Ore.
Theme: Native American Beach-Bungalow Lite
Opened: 1995
Total investment: $45 million
Known for: Only West Coast casino with an ocean view.
Marketing niche: Overnight business from Portland, Salem.
Gambler's Intensity: Medium
Cocktail speed: No drinking on the casino floor
Dealers: Ultra-friendly
Bosses: Invisible
Tables: 21
Rare games: Single-deck blackjack
Slots: 1,400
Rooms: 0
Surrounding area: Casino sits on a beachfront promontory at the north edge of Lincoln City, isolated from its neighbors, with the exception of two motels, but the town itself is full of inns and galleries.
Web site: chinookwindscasino.com
Chinook Winds Casino Bingo Schedule For April
Overall rating: 80
Joe Bob's bankroll: Up $20 after an hour of single-hand blackjack: total to date +$125
Chinook Winds Casino Bingo
(E-mail Joe Bob Briggs at JoeBob@upi.com.)