Robert de los Angeles, Chairman
Snoqualmie Indian Tribe
Snoqualmie Casino in Snoqualmie, WA
snocasino.com
snoqualmietribe.us
CHALLENGES/REWARDS: Over the past two years, the greatest risk of the casino and tribal enterprises has been the proliferation of COVID variants and their danger to our patrons and employees. As we come out of the pandemic, we continue to face challenges with rising costs and attracting new staff. Although the past two years have been challenging, we have had many victories. Some examples include retaining and supporting an entire workforce throughout the pandemic, opening one of the first large community vaccination clinics in the Snoqualmie Valley, and opening the first sports betting venue in Washington State.
PROMOTING LEADERSHIP: We constantly seek new ways to engage in additional enterprises, and with those opportunities, always fostering an understanding of the skills to operate those enterprises. Other ways that we support leadership growth is through supporting education opportunities for tribal members and for enterprise employees. At the enterprise level, we offer continuing management training.
INITIATIVES: As the tribe continues to exercise our sovereign rights and culture, we recently purchased 12,000 acres of ancestral forest which will bring the Snoqualmie Tribe together. The tribe also recently purchased the Salish Lodge and adjacent lands at our sacred Snoqualmie Falls to protect it from planned development, and the tribe continues that work to protect and preserve our sacred sites and ancestral lands and waters. The success of our tribal businesses have made these acquisitions possible. Currently, we are constructing a new child day care center that will help tribal members, administration and casino employees as costs for child day care continue to soar. In addition, we just announced that we will build a resort hotel at Snoqualmie Casino, our largest enterprise.