BLYN – These are exhilarating times for Jerry Allen, assistant general manager of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s 7 Cedars Casino.
You might assume that’s because the Washington State Gambling Commission will this week consider a new gaming compact that would allow the Jamestown tribe to add 300 “player terminals,” also known as slot-style machines, to its current allotment of 675.
The pact will be considered by state gambling officials on March 9, said Allen.
If approved by the state, it will go to the federal Department of Interior for review over the next four to six months.
The compact would increase the number of permitted gaming machines for all 28 of Washington’s tribes.
But the Jamestown casino manager and his elder brother, tribal chairman Ron Allen, have other future plans to discuss.
Some $70 million worth.
In the next few weeks, the Allens and other tribal leaders will peer into a looking glass portending major developments in the tribe’s role on the Peninsula.
The Jamestown tribe is about to go big — but not in the way that the Puyallups and Muckleshoots have with their giant casinos on Interstate 5.
The 7 Cedars Casino will be expanding soon — but more dramatic will be the edifices added onto and near it: a seven-story resort hotel, a two-level, glass-fronted conference center and a Country Store and Gathering Place.
Perhaps most dramatic of all: The three new developments are to be gambling-free.
