Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance ran on a platform of “safe streets and trails, good schools, real solutions to homelessness, and a vibrant, affordable city.” Last week, LaFrance abruptly added a new goal for her administration: the promotion of casino gambling.
In a January 3 letter to Assembly members, LaFrance shared her comments to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in support of a proposed Eklutna casino, which would see the deployment of up to 700 Las Vegas-style slot machines in a sprawling complex near Birchwood, a short drive from the Anchorage city center.
LaFrance praised the effects of casino gambling, citing its economic benefits. According to LaFrance, “the project will create shared economic benefits, including more than 450 jobs during construction that will add $45.8 million to our local economy. Once operating, the project will support 419 workers and generate $67.6 million in economic value. Positive economic spill-over effects would boost surrounding businesses, hotels, and workers.”
“We’d like to formally share our support for the Native Village of Eklutna as it exercises its sovereignty and pursues economic development,” LaFrance wrote.
On February 1, Interior Department Solicitor Robert Anderson reversed decades of precedent and unilaterally declared that casinos could be operated on Native allotment land. According to an October 3 article in World Casino News, the Native Village of Eklutna quickly partnered with Marnell, a major Las Vegas-based casino operator, to build a casino in Anchorage. Last fall, Eklutna began clearing land at the planned casino site.
An advertisement for Class II slot machines. Class II slot machines, the type of machine that Eklutna plans to install in its casino, are virtually indistinguishable from the Class III machines found throughout Las Vegas.
LaFrance’s letter makes no reference to any downsides of opening a casino in Alaska’s largest population center. Numerous studies and meta-analyses link gambling to increased rates of suicide, domestic violence, bankruptcy, depression, and many types of violent and white-collar crime. Those impacts disproportionately affect lower-income and minority individuals and families, studies show.
A nationwide increase in gambling and gambling disorders has caused public health experts to sound the alarm, with many describing it as a nationwide public health crisis or epidemic.
Under current laws, the casino would likely pay no taxes from revenues to the city. Individuals familiar with Eklutna’s plans told the Landmine that Eklutna will likely request that taxpayers fund millions of dollars of roadways and other major infrastructure work required by the casino. Eklutna will also likely request that the Anchorage Assembly grant it policing powers, so that an Eklutna police force can independently enforce laws and detain individuals in and around the casino, sources said.
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