Skip to main content
For the past couple of years, both the Oregon State Office of Economic Analysis and the Grand Ronde Tribe have warned that the new Ilani casino in Ridgefield, Wash. could eat into video lottery sales and visits to the Grand Ronde's Spirit Mountain Casino.
But now that the Ilani has been open long enough for an assessment—the casino has operated for a year—state officials say the impact is far less than forecast.
"Video lottery sales in zip codes along the Oregon-Washington border in the Portland region have fallen around 15 percent, instead of the 40 percent
expected," the office of economic analysis wrote this week. "Our office was not alone in over-estimating the initial impact of the new casino. The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, owners of the Spirit Mountain Casino, which was previously the closest casino to the Portland metro region, announced back in the fall that sales had fallen around 17 percent, relative to the previous year, whereas the forecasted sales would fall by 40 percent."
The new information comes from the state's quarterly revenue forecast released earlier this week. Overall, the news was rosy, with personal income tax receipts, by far the state's largest source of revenue, so far exceeding forecast that taxpayers can expect a sizeable "kicker" credit against their future taxes.
State economist Josh Lehner wrote today that the kicker should total about $500 million and provide the average Oregon taxpayer a $270 credit against 2019 taxes.