How It Started; How It’s Going

BY ROBERT S. BOSTWICK

This all began on a wheat field, and not much of one at that. The soil was heavy with clay, covered by seasonal wetlands with thorny wild roses sprouting up all around. But these 80 acres of wheat, nestled near the intersection of highways U.S. 95 and Idaho 58, was to be the place where the Coeur d’Alene Tribe would spin that wheat straw into gold.

And it’s no fairy tale.

The Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel has evolved over these 30 years into a stunning destination resort, with 300-plus rooms, eight dining areas and lounges, 1,200 gaming machines, bingo, approximately 60,000 square feet of gaming space and the world-class Circling Raven Golf Club among its amenities.

Those who visit see the results, and they come from all over the world. Those who were here see a powerful vision realized. They see their children and grandchildren looking hopefully toward the future. They feel their ancestors looking down at them, approving and proud.

Robert Bostwick has worked in public relations for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel since the early 1990s.

Humble Beginnings

Those 80 acres were just enough when the original building, housing only a bingo hall, opened for business in March 1993, offering seating for about 1,000 players. There were a few offices, one meeting room, a small cantina and a lobby. That’s it. To build it, the tribe borrowed $2.9 million from an economic development fund at the Bureau of Indian Affairs — a fund that doesn’t even exist anymore.

David Matheson, a tribal member, former tribal councilman and chairman, University of Washington graduate with a Master’s in Business Administration, was the brains behind the boom.

Matheson, who passed away earlier this year, will always be remembered as the architect who led the tribe to where it is today. As the deputy assistant secretary of the Interior for the Bureau of Indian Affairs under President George H.W. Bush, he learned all the ins and outs of Indian Gaming — and how it could all start with bingo.

“I like to tell the story,” Matheson said in 2017. “I got all kinds of advice from very smart and successful people in the region. They all said the same thing: ‘Don’t build it way down there, build it as far north as you can get.’ Of course, the three rules of business are ‘location, location, location.’ We had none of the three.”

What the tribe also did not have were jobs, opportunities and scholarship dollars. But what the tribe did have was vision. It had commitment. It had unwavering leadership.

The Tribal Council at the time included Al Garrick, Domnick Curley, Margaret Jose, Lawrence Aripa, Henry SiJohn and Norma Peone. Ernie Stensgar was the tribal chairman. Only Jose, Peone and Stensgar are still living. Their backsides at the time, and no one else’s, were on the line. But their tribe was enduring abject poverty — its unemployment rate hovering around 70 percent.

“Oh, we preferred the money issues to the poverty, so we never hesitated to take the risk,” recalls Jose, who served on the Tribal Council for six years, her eyes lighting up at the memories. “It sure was exciting, and yes, we did have concerns, but everyone came together then. Everybody had a ‘can-do’ spirit, and so much support from all the tribal families was wonderful to see.”

Leaders in Idaho state government were not so pleased. In July 1992, the tribe notified then-

Gov. Cecil Andrus that it would seek negotiations for a gaming compact, a process required by the U.S. Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. But in those days, it was a process often held up by states dragging their feet.

Andrus didn’t drag his feet. Instead, he called the Legislature into special session, the first one in decades, to take the first required step to write an amendment to the state constitution. That November, the amendment passed as Proposition One, and it came with a whopping 59 percent majority among voters.

Then the compact was negotiated in a reasonably timely manner. Bingo was protected already by federal law, as was Class II gaming. That compact then allowed for the tribe to do any type of Class III gaming allowed in the state — horse racing, mule racing, dog racing (now banned) and lottery. Yes, lottery.

Idaho On Board

With or without dice, the tribe was on a roll. Then came a few machines, mostly in the lobby, then a few more. Revenue was flowing modestly. Expansion was needed. Remember that $2.9 million loan? The 15-year note was paid off in three years; the “mortgage burning” ceremony was included in a bingo promotion. Other such “burnings” would follow.

But the tribe still faced challenges, as lawmakers, governors and anti-gaming interests were taking notice. Expansions had included a hotel, pool and restaurants, and fur was flying at the state Capitol in Boise. The tribe decided to take its message to the people.

With success growing and glowing, it still took another vote, this time of the citizens of the state, to seal the deal with Idaho for good. The tribe successfully petitioned to put their proposition on the ballot in 2002, asking the people of Idaho to confirm the legitimacy of lottery-style machines. A statewide campaign was launched, and it passed, carrying a conservative Republican and considerably Mormon state by, guess what? Again, 59 percent.

Idahoans appreciated that the tribe had erased that 70 percent unemployment rate. The tribe today is at full employment, with more jobs, in fact, than it has Indians to fill them.

“WE’VE GOT TO DO THIS”

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe can boast full employment. It can boast a more diverse and a sustainable reservation economy, supporting some 1,800 jobs at the tribe’s enterprises and government programs. It can boast health care not just for tribal members at a tribe-supported medical center that serves the non-Indian public as well. It can boast about a half-billion dollars in new construction over these 30 years — some, but far from all, at the casino resort.

After serving as marketing director since the very beginning back in 1993, Laura Penney was named CEO in October 2019. Her mind goes back to the early ’90s when she was part of a delegation that toured the Oneida Tribe’s casino in Wisconsin.

“I’ll never forget that day when I got off the plane and just a mile down the road was this amazing resort,” says Penney. “I was just in awe. They had a hotel. They had their own senior housing. They had a wellness center, a fitness center. We toured the tribal housing. It was just amazing what they had and what they were doing with their gaming dollars. So we came back and were inspired and just said, ‘We’ve got to do this.’”

Now, looking back on how the Coeur d’Alene Tribe has done it, Penney says it all started with the people — the tribe.

“We’ve always considered ourselves as family,” she says. “It was easy to maintain those relationships when we started with 90 employees; we now have roughly 800. We make it a priority to provide the culture and environment of ownership and family.

“It has been an honor to serve my tribe and to work side by side with our employees for these many years,” Penney adds. “We have an amazing team that truly cares for their coworkers and guests.”

Chief J. Allan currently holds the reins in Plummer as chairman of the Tribal Council, maintaining the same firm commitment he saw growing up.

“We continue to create opportunities, jobs, education, health care and more,” Allan says. “So many benefit from all this, tribal or otherwise. We have clearly shown that as the tribe benefits, so does the region. As tribal members benefit, so do non-Indians in the region.”

And the tribe can rely, if not rest, on its self-sufficiency. Just as importantly, it has established economic sustainability. Vision is ever present. Ideas will continue to grow, as will the resort.

“It has been rewarding to help contribute towards the betterment of our tribe and future generations to come,” says Penney. “We are a strong, progressive, smart people and will always strive for selfsufficiency.” 

Remembering David Matheson

Tribal leader David Matheson passed away on Jan. 10, just before the casino he helped create turned 30.

“Dave has left us a profound legacy,” says Chief J. Allan, chairman of the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Council that Matheson also served on. “He was a true visionary who had the foresight to see the great possibilities for the Tribe and Native Americans. He was the architect behind much of our enterprises, endeavors that have enabled us to thrive as we stride forward in the 21st century.”

“Dave was my mentor — I learned so much from him about how to treat people, how to be a strong but kind leader,” adds Coeur d’Alene Casino CEO and tribal member Laura Penney. “He is loved dearly and will be missed deeply.”

Matheson once shared his personal philosophy: “The Great Creator promised no one a tomorrow, or an easy time… no one. When the new day comes, greet it with great thankfulness. It is a time not used by anyone. Use it for something good, even great. It’s the one life we have. Leave no dream unfulfilled, and no good deed undone.” 

Over the 30 years the Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel has had its doors open, one thing comes up again and again. Guests want to learn more about the stories and traditions of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe.

“If we can share with you our foods, our language, our arts, you can understand who we are and why we are, and how we will always be,” says Yvette Matt, a Coeur d’Alene tribal member and the casino’s marketing director. “That’s how it started, our cultural tourism program.”

CEO Laura Penney has been involved in the casino since before it was open in the early 1990s. “I’ve heard