Cowlitz Tribe, Washington Reach ilani Table-Games Deal

The Cowlitz Indian Tribe and the Washington State Gambling Commission have reached a tentative agreement on an amendment to the tribe's Class III gaming compact, a change that would expand table gaming and raise wager limits at ilani Casino Resort in Ridgefield. The proposed change would be the sixth amendment to the Cowlitz compact, and it now moves toward a formal commission vote before it can advance to the governor and, ultimately, federal review.

Under the terms described by the commission, the amendment would authorize the operation of up to 125 gaming tables, either in a single facility or spread across a combination of two facilities. It would also lift betting ceilings in structured ways: a designated area covering up to a quarter of the tables in operation could accept wagers of as much as $1,000, while a limited number of tables could offer wagers up to $5,000 after a customer-screening process. The staged limits are a familiar feature of Washington compacts, which tend to pair expanded high-limit play with heightened patron vetting.

What changes at ilani

ilani, which the Cowlitz Tribe opened in 2017 near the Oregon border, is one of the highest-volume tribal properties in the Pacific Northwest, drawing heavily from the Portland metropolitan market across the Columbia River. A higher table count and elevated wager ceilings would let the property deepen its appeal to premium table-games players, a segment that has grown in importance as operators look beyond the slot floor for margin. For readers new to the distinction between machine gaming and banked table games, our Class II versus Class III explainer lays out why table games sit squarely in the compacted Class III category.

The amendment fits a broader pattern across Washington, where a series of tribes have moved in 2026 to modernize their compacts, whether by adding electronic table games, adjusting limits, or refining sports-wagering provisions. Our overview of the Washington compact-amendment wave tracks how the state and its gaming tribes have used incremental amendments to keep pace with player demand while preserving the negotiated structure of the compacts.

The approval sequence

A tentative agreement is only the first checkpoint. The Gambling Commission is scheduled to take up the proposed amendment at a public meeting in late August, where commissioners will decide whether to forward it. If they vote to advance it, the amendment goes to the Cowlitz tribal chair for consideration and signature, then to the governor for signature. Only after both the tribal chair and the governor have signed does the amendment travel to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior for review, signature, and publication in the Federal Register, the step that gives it legal force.

A tentative agreement is only the first checkpoint; the amendment must still clear a commission vote, two signatures, and federal review before it takes effect.

That multi-stage sequence is deliberate. Class III compacts are negotiated instruments between two sovereigns, the tribe and the state, and any material change to the scope of authorized gaming must run the full course of state approval and federal ratification. It is the same architecture that governs table counts, machine allocations, and revenue arrangements at gaming operations across the country.

The staged wager limits deserve a closer look, because they capture Washington's distinctive regulatory philosophy. Rather than lifting ceilings uniformly across the floor, the amendment concentrates the highest limits in a small, defined subset of tables and conditions the very top tier on customer screening. That structure lets a property court high-limit players and the incremental revenue they bring while keeping most of the floor at more accessible stakes and building patron-vetting checkpoints into the highest-risk play. It is a design that tries to expand the commercial opportunity and the responsible-gaming guardrails at the same time, and it has become a recurring template in the state's recent compact negotiations.

Why it matters for the region

For the Pacific Northwest, the Cowlitz amendment is a signal that the region's largest tribal properties continue to invest in the higher-end table-games experience rather than relying solely on slots and, increasingly, sports wagering. ilani's location near a major metropolitan area without a comparably scaled commercial competitor gives the Cowlitz Tribe room to expand premium play, and the negotiated screening requirements attached to the highest limits reflect Washington's cautious approach to responsible-gaming safeguards.

Timing is another consideration. Because the amendment must still pass the commission, collect two signatures, and clear federal review, any expanded high-limit play at ilani would arrive months from now rather than immediately. That measured pace is characteristic of compact amendments generally, which are not designed for speed but for durability, giving both sovereigns time to weigh each change to authorized gaming. For the Cowlitz Tribe, the deliberate process is a feature rather than a bug: a compact that has been amended and ratified through the full sequence carries the legal certainty that underpins long-term investment.

Should the amendment clear the commission vote and the signatures that follow, it would join a growing list of 2026 Washington compact changes, including moves by other tribes to introduce or expand electronic table games, such as the Upper Skagit amendment. Taken together, the changes illustrate how Washington's gaming tribes are using the compact process to steadily broaden their offerings within a stable regulatory framework. Readers tracking the state's operators can follow developments on our Washington state hub.