She had worked 22 years in the casino and hospitality industry, most of it at the Mohegan Sun and the Mohegan Sun Pocono in Pennsylvania.ĭocuments the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, now named Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, filed with the U.S. The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, now named Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, named Kara Fox-LaRose as the president and general manager of ilani in early 2016. With the legal battle now behind them, casino management is focusing on internal growth, customer service and being a good neighbor. Supreme Court dismissed a final appeal from the remainder on April 3, 2017, three weeks before ilani’s grand opening.ĭespite the turbulent beginning, the casino has met its owners’ expectations in the first two years, according to its president and general manager. Some of the plaintiffs dropped out of a lawsuit later that year, and the U.S. The owners of ilani broke ground in February 2016, starting work on both the $510 million casino and a $32 million rebuild of the nearby Exit 16 interchange. The proposal faced a lawsuit from Clark County, the city of Vancouver, cardroom owners in La Center and groups of local residents and business owners, as well as the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, which operate the Spirit Mountain Casino 60 miles southwest of Portland.
The Cowlitz sought to build a casino as a revenue source, and formed a financial partnership with the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut, owners of several gaming and entertainment ventures, including the massive Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Conn. The project’s development dates back to the early 2000s, when the tribe received formal recognition from the federal government and began to seek land near Exit 16 of Interstate 5 to establish a reservation.
It almost makes the battle that led to the casino a distant memory. At the same time, master planning continues on a broader vision that could one day include a hotel, tribal headquarters, a cultural center and other capital improvements. On Monday, casino officials and Cowlitz Indian Tribe leaders will gather to commemorate the latest building to be constructed on the tribe’s 156-acre reservation between Ridgefield and La Center, and to announce another planned development. Food and drink options are still just steps away.īut its leaders say ilani has changed in those 24 months, recalibrating its approach to better serve customers while adding features both large and small to attract first-time visitors. The 100,000-square-foot gaming floor is lit just as brilliantly on a cloudy spring day, and the low-level hum of intense gamblers pervades the place. COWLITZ INDIAN RESERVATION - Most of the same sights and sounds greet an ilani visitor today as they did two years ago, when the casino and resort opened 17 miles north of downtown Vancouver.
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