08:43 AM PDT on Friday, June 11, 2004

Associated Press

FLORENCE, Ore. -- Got slots?

The proprietors at the new Three Rivers Casino in Florence sure do.

When the new casino opens up later this month, it will be latest gambling spot in a state that already has its share of American Indian-run gaming establishments -- and is just a short flight from Las Vegas.

(File photo)

To compete, the Three Rivers Casino, owned by the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, has gone glitzy. They're offering a host of enticements: free valet parking, six blackjack tables, two restaurants and one sports bar.

And, of course, there are the 260 slot machines. Their number even includes a Jeff Foxworthy "You Might Be a Redneck" machine, which delivers winnings if you line up three outhouses, jalopies or beer cans in a row.

More than 20 percent of the machines are penny slots, and you have to look hard for the handful of dollar slot machines on the floor. But the low denominations can be deceiving, since the smallest wager you can stick into a machine is a $1 bill good for 100 plays on a penny slot, for example.

There's no roulette or craps or poker although that could all change if the casino proves as successful as the tribes expect, leading to a bigger, more permanent structure somewhere on adjacent property, perhaps as soon as 2006.

But at this juncture, the casino sees itself as a "players' club" rather than a destination resort, attracting local regulars from up and down the coast and from Eugene-Springfield.

The operation is expected to net up to $12 million a year, and overnight will become the largest employer in Florence with 300 or so jobs.

Local opponents of the casino are not happy about any of it. They waged a long court battle to try and prevent the casino from opening, fearing that it would hurt the atmosphere of their tranquil coastal town.

Emotion against the casino ran so high that the city council voted last spring to refuse water and sewer service to the tribe.

The tribe had been the last of nine federally recognized tribes in the state without a casino.