Both tribal casinos in Kitsap announced temporary closures on Monday along with a wave of other similar moves at casinos throughout western Washington as tribes attempted to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The Suquamish Tribe’s Clearwater Casino Resort and the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe’s The Point Casino both announced two-week closures that tribal officials said would be re-evaluated. The Suquamish Tribe announced the closure of the facility's gaming floor, spa, all restaurants and bars and the hotel, with a projected reopening date of April 1. The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe said its casino would close by 2 a.m. on Wednesday and remain closed for two weeks.

After moving events but keeping gaming operations running in recent days, it became apparent to tribal officials that it was necessary to close the facilities.

Port Madison Enterprises, the Suquamish Tribe’s business arm, which runs the tribe’s casino, has around 1,000 employees. Some will be working during the closure, but all employees will be paid normally, PME CEO Rion Ramirez said.

“We encouraged them that this is a time for them to go home and focus on the appropriate social distancing, but to stay home as much as possible,” he said. “For all of us to get back to work as soon as we can, we need folks to focus on limiting interactions. We want to get back up and running to be the vibrant entertainment venue we are at the Clearwater. We can’t do that until this unforeseen, historic health crisis is put to bed.”

Suquamish Tribal Chairman Leonard Forsman called the closure a drastic step but said it was the right thing to do to protect the health of the community.

“This is really hard for all of us,” he said. “This is the number one, primary revenue for our tribal government. This is how we try to accomplish our mission of protecting our treaty rights, protecting Puget Sound, taking care of the health and welfare of our people.... This is vital to the sovereignty of the Suquamish Tribe.”

The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe didn’t identify a targeted date for reopening its facility but said the closure would last for two weeks.

“This will be re-evaluated as necessary,” it said in its announcement.

Shows would be postponed to June. Casino property restaurants will also close with take-out options available. Other tribal properties – its hotel, the Gliding Eagle Marketplace, High Point and Kountry Korner – will all remain open with protocols in place to encourage social distancing and enhanced sanitization, the tribe said.

The two local closures join a list of similar moves in the region, with the Jamestown S’Klallam, Puyallup, Tulalip and Muckleshoot tribes and others announcing temporary closures.

Forsman, who also serves as the president of the board of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, an organization that represents 57 tribal governments in northwestern states, said tribal officials communicated about tactics and strategies but independently came to the same conclusion.

“It was not necessarily coordinated,” he said. “A lot of the tribes have similar values. For us to come together wasn’t a big surprise to me.”

Nathan Pilling is a reporter covering Bainbridge Island, North Kitsap and Washington State Ferries for the Kitsap Sun. He can be reached at 360-792-5242, nathan.pilling@kitsapsun.com or on Twitter at @KSNatePilling.

Consider supporting local journalism in Kitsap County: Sign up for a digital subscription today.