Wetumpka casino one step closer to reality

Wetumpka casino one step closer to reality

Casino gambling is not legal in Alabama, but Harrah’s Entertainment doesn’t mind.

The $300 million, 350-room hotel and casino project in the works on the Poarch Creek Indians’ reservation in Wetumpka is moving forward as the third level of one of two multilevel parking decks is currently being built. Each parking deck will hold 500 cars.

According to www.harrahs.com, Harrah’s owns or manages more than 40 casinos in three countries. In Alabama, the Poarch Creek Indians would serve as a subsidiary for Harrah’s to manage the casino in Wetumpka.

Janice Whorton, Wetumpka city clerk, said the parking deck is on land owned by the Poarch Creek Indians but is not reservation land. The hotel and casino will be on the Coosa River, which is on reservation land, she explained.

Eric Basinger, executive director of the Elmore County Development Authority, said, “The casino will sit right on the river bank.”

The plan is for the casino to be in the bottom of the hotel, said Basinger, who has seen the rendering. “It was pretty spectacular. It’s a very large building.

“I would imagine you could see it from many miles away,” he said. “For a town like Wetumpka to have a building like that size in it, you can’t miss it when you come into town.”

With 350 rooms, the hotel would also be the third largest in the state. Currently the largest hotel is the Birmingham Downtown Sheraton with 770 rooms. The second largest is Mobile’s Riverview Plaza Hotel with 377. Following close behind is Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach with 346 rooms.

“That’s pretty huge considering we’ve only got 100 rooms in the county right now,” Basinger said.

“First, it was called a gaming facility,” Whorton said, “But now they do call it a casino. It will have electronic games including slot machines.”

Slot machines, however, would be considered Class III gambling, which is currently prohibited in Alabama.

John Hill, director of research for the Alabama Policy Institute, said, “If indeed they are going to build a Class III gaming facility, a compact would have to be established between the governor and the tribe itself.

“The Riley administration and the Siegelman administration before him have both said this would not happen under their watch,” Hill noted. 

“Case law says the state has the right to keep that kind of gambling out,” Hill said. “That could change at the federal level but it is unlikely.”

Jim Jackson, director of missions for Elmore Baptist Association, said, “If they cannot get casino gambling, are they going to be able to bring the people in for what they are building?

“In Wetumpka, we are a quiet community,” Jackson said. “I still believe (the casino) will not be a positive impact economically or socially in our community, county or state.”

Currently the Poarch Creek Indians are running an electronic bingo hall with more than 500 machines in a metal building with about 200 employees.

Basinger said the facility is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “There seems to be 100 or more cars there (at any given time),” he said. “It is a mixture of people playing the machines.”

While the look and feel of the interior of the Wetumpka Riverside Entertainment Center is similar to that of a casino with endless rows of machines boasting lots of lights and noise, the electronic devices are considered Class II gambling.

Under the Gaming Tax Law for Indian Tribal Governments, Class II gambling “primarily includes bingo (whether or not it is electronically enhanced), pull-tabs, lotto, punch boards, tip jars, instant bingo, games similar to bingo and nonbanking card games allowed by state law.”

The same law defines slot machines and other casino-style games as Class III.

Whorton noted that the Poarch Creek Indians also own an electronic bingo facility, Tallapoosa Entertainment Center, in Montgomery. “To my understanding, it will continue even after the large casino is to be built,” she said.

With an anticipated July 2007 open date, the city of Wetumpka has much to consider, Basinger said, noting specifically expansion for increased traffic and the ability to handle an influx of people.

The current facility changed the traffic patterns, Basinger noted, so he knows the casino will. “Before they were in operation, the traffic count was a lot less in that area.

“One end of the county only has two lanes,” he said.

The area also has limited restaurants and other businesses, so the likelihood is that the look of the area will change as more and more businesses move in, Basinger added.

Whorton said the city expects the casino to employ about 1,000 people.

“One of the things the city will have to do is try to find other opportunities for these people that are coming in for revenue,” she said.

“We don’t have any ability to tax any of the services or procedures beyond what they might negotiate and give us on their own,” Whorton said. “But we haven’t been able to reach any agreements yet.”

Eddie Tullis, former Poarch Creek Indian chairman and now head of the Riverside facility, has been negotiating police service with the city of Wetumpka.

According to the Montgomery Advertiser, a contract between the Poarch Creek Indians and the city of Wetumpka failed to pass because of a deadlocked vote by the city council June 23. Tullis had offered $50,000 per year to Wetumpka for the first two years for police service, the Advertiser reported.

Concern was raised over the amount of money the group is spending and will take in versus what was offered for the police service. Tullis said $18.5 million has been spent so far on roads and the current construction on the parking decks.

If an agreement is worked out, it would require the cross-deputization of Wetumpka police officers and tribal members, the Advertiser reported.

Fred McGhee is the current Poarch Creek Indian tribal chairman. Neither McGhee nor Tullis were available for an updated comment.

“I’m 61 years old and the Wetumpka that I’ve known for years will be no more,” Whorton said. “We’ve got a nice, family-oriented community, so now we’ve got to try to make the most of it.”