PORTLAND, Ore. - Supporters and opponents of a proposed casino in the Columbia River Gorge faced off again Thursday night, filling a Portland hotel meeting room to capacity.

It was the latest in a series of meetings surrounding the controversial plan by the Warm Springs tribe to open a casino in Cascade Locks, a small town located near Hood River in the Gorge.

Studies estimate 3 million people could visit the casino annually, which would be an average of over 8,200 per day per year. Cascade Locks currently has a population of about 1,000 people.

Opponents of the casino claim the development would increase crime, lead to gambling addictions and is not in spirit with the scenic area's geography and tourist-oriented businesses.

Supporters, many of them Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs members, said the casino would bring long-term jobs to the area and needed revenue to the tribe.

The casino is also opposed by the Grand Ronde tribe, which operates the Spirit Mountain casino and is worried the new facility could pull business away from their operation.

"It's all we have," Patsy Pullin of the Grand Ronde tribe said of the Spirit Mountain casino.

The proposed casino would not be on tribal lands and would be outside the 40-mile drive zone specified by the Federal government.

If the casino is eventually located in Cascade Locks, it would be about 100 driving miles from the Warm Springs reservation in central Oregon.