The casino business gave tribes a chance to create reservation jobs at decent wages and to begin developing a middle class. In the long haul, the wealth was great enough to spread to the neighboring community of Marysville and to county nonprofit groups through the Tribes' charitable giving program. It was not uncommon for a tribal fisherman to clear under $3,000 in yearly profit. Before the casino opened, 60 percent of Tulalips were on welfare. By the 1990s, competition in the fishing business left most Indians struggling to survive. When the Tulalip Tribes called their first letters and numbers at the Tulalip Bingo parlor in June 1983, few would have expected their modest dreams to grow into big casino riches. But when a federal law was passed in 1988 permitting the same types of gambling on reservations as was permitted elsewhere in the state, Tulalip leaders were quick to develop plans for a casino.įor generations regional tribes had been fishing people, but by the 1960s most were leaving the reservations in search of work. The Tulalips are the second tribe in Washington state to open a casino following the 1988 federal ruling allowing reservation gambling. A maximum wager at 13 tables is set at $10 and at the remaining tables $15. On July 20, 1992, the Tulalip Casino opens with 23 gambling stations for blackjack, craps, roulette, and poker.

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