Oregon Public Broadcasting

An effort to build a non-tribal casino near Portland has hit a major roadblock. The Oregon Secretary of State's office announced Tuesday that half of a two-part initiative strategy has failed to make the ballot.

Casino backers needed Oregon voters to approve two initiatives to make their project a go. One of them has made it to the ballot.

It would set up the statutory framework for a non-tribal casino near Portland.

But first the casino needed a constitutional amendment to make it legal. And that fell short of the number of valid signatures it needed.

Casino petitioner Matt Rossman says he and his business partner aren't giving up and may sue.

Matt Rossman: "We have been involved in this project for five years and there have been a number of obstacles that we've had to deal with, and this is just another one that we believe at the end of the day that we will prevail on."

Rossman says the casino would provide jobs and pump millions of dollars into state coffers.

Opponents say that would come at the expense of Oregon lottery revenue and would undercut the state's nine tribal casinos.