Despite economic conditions, Native American casino development continues across the Western states. Projects have been downsized or put on hold, but expanded facilities are appearing with new events centers, meeting space, restaurants and larger casinos.
The development spotlight last year was on new properties around Seattle and Santa Fe; now it has turned to Phoenix and Scottsdale, Ariz., where several new large-scale resorts are nearing completion.
California has seen one new major casino resort open this year, while three others are under construction and scheduled to open next year. In addition, casino expansion is under way in Colorado, where the state’s first casino resort recently opened, and in Idaho.
Arizona
Two new major casino resorts in the Phoenix-Scottsdale area will soon be added to the Grand Canyon State’s collection of 20-plus casinos.
Near Chandler, the Gila River Indian Community will open the Wild Horse Pass Hotel and Casino on its reservation in late October, ahead of schedule. The new facility will include a 1,000-slot casino, 242-room hotel, 100,000 square feet of gaming space, more than 12,000 square feet of meeting space, a 1,400-seat showroom, a nightclub and a variety of dining options.
It will replace the smaller White Horse Pass Casino, one of the reservation’s three casinos, and opens one year after the tribe unveiled its new $60 million, 850-slot Lone Butte Casino in nearby Kyrene.
The reservation is also home to the 500-room Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Hotel, which has a spa, 36 holes of golf and can take groups of 900. In June, the resort unveiled 25,884 square feet of additional meeting space, including a 15,000-square-foot ballroom, bringing its total meeting square footage to 70,000.
In Scottsdale, the $400 million Talking Stick Resort & Casino is scheduled to open in January. The project includes a 497-room hotel, 998-slot casino, 13,000-square-foot spa, eight restaurants and 10 lounges, including a 750-seat showroom. For meetings, 21 rooms totaling 50,000 square feet will include a 25,000-square-foot ballroom, and another 50,000 square feet will be available for outdoor events.
Talking Stick will replace the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community’s existing Casino Arizona adjacent to the Talking Stick Golf Course.
Southern Arizona is home to the Tohono O’odham Tribe’s $100 million Desert Diamond Casino & Hotel near Tucson International Airport. Opened in November 2007, it features a 150-room hotel, 9,900-square feet of meeting space and an expanded casino.
Other Arizona casinos with meeting space include the 146-room Harrah’s Phoenix Ak-Chin in Maricosa; the 80-room Cliff Castle Casino in Camp Verde, north of Phoenix; the 128-room Hon-Dah Resort Casino & Conference Center in Pinetop in the White Mountains; and the Apache Gold Casino Resort in San Carlos, which includes a 146-room Best Western hotel and golf.
New Mexico
Billed as New Mexico’s largest destination resort, the 587-acre Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino debuted in fall 2008.
Located at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, 15 minutes north of Santa Fe, the property is a joint project of the Pueblo of Pojoaque and Hilton Hotels. It features the 395-room Hilton Santa Fe Golf Resort & Spa, a 1,200-slot casino, 66,000 square feet of meeting space, 36 holes of golf and seven restaurants.
South of Albuquerque, Isleta Casino & Resort expanded last year with a 200-room hotel and more than 30,000 square feet of meeting space. The resort already had a 1,600-slot casino, 26,000-square-foot showroom and 27 holes of golf.
Albuquerque also has the 228-room Sandia Resort and Casino, offering golf and more than 50,000 square feet of meeting space. Just north of the city on the Santa Ana Pueblo is the 350-room Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort & Spa, which has golf and 70,000 square feet of indoor/outdoor meeting space.
Near Ruidoso, the Mescalero Apache-owned Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort & Casino offers 273 rooms, golf and 40,000 square feet of meeting space.
Southern California
With around 60 casinos, about one- third with hotels and meeting space, the Golden State is the top Native American gaming state in revenue.
Previously restricted to a maximum of 2,000 Las Vegas-style slots per tribe, the state government has been negotiating amendments to individual compacts (agreements) with tribes, allowing them more slots in return for increased revenues to the state.
This has led to growth, and although the construction boom slowed in the past few years, new and expanded facilities are opening or under construction.
California’s newest casino resort is just six miles from Yuma, Ariz., in the southeast corner of the state. In February, the Fort Yuma Quechan Tribe opened the 1,000-slot Quechan Casino Resort in Winterhaven, replacing its smaller California Paradise Casino with a 166-room hotel and a 2,300-seat event center.
The Temecula area, with five casinos within 30 miles of each other, is an expansion hot spot.
At the Pala Casino Spa & Resort in Pala, the Pala Band of Mission Indians recently completed a $100 million expansion, which included new gaming and restaurant options. The AAA Four Diamond resort features 507 guest rooms; 40,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 20,000-square-foot ballroom; four entertainment venues; a 10,000-square-foot spa; and a casino with more than 2,000 slots.
Last November, the 522-room Pechanga Resort in Temecula, also with a AAA Four Diamond rating and 40,000 square feet of meeting space, held the grand opening for its new 18-hole Journey at Pechanga golf course and a clubhouse, which accommodates up to 180 people for banquets.
The San Pasqual Band’s Valley View Casino in Valley Center broke ground last year on a $100 million, 161-suite hotel, slated for a spring 2010 completion. Also last year, it unveiled a 25,000-square-foot casino addition and a 2,000-seat outdoor concert venue.
The Temecula area also has the 662-room Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort, with 13,500 square feet of meeting space in Valley Center. There is also the San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino in Highland, which boasts an amphitheater that can hold 65,000 people.
The Palm Springs area has six casinos, including the Agua Caliente Casino Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage, which opened a $76 million, 2,000-seat concert theater in February. Last year it unveiled a $300 million expansion that included a 344-room hotel with 10,000 square feet of meeting space.
Under the same management is the 288-room Spa Resort Casino, with 7,000 square feet of meeting space in downtown Palm Springs.
Other area casinos are Spotlight 29 Casino in Coachella, which has a 5,000-square-foot ballroom and completed the first phase of a casino remodeling in July; the 250-room Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, featuring a 100,000-square-foot events center; and, west of Palm Springs at Cabazon, the AAA Four Diamond Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, which has 310 guest rooms and a 12,000-square-foot ballroom.
The San Diego area has three casinos. Among them is the Sycuan Band’s 103-room Sycuan Resort & Casino, which has 54 holes of golf and group space for 200 people.
Accommodating groups of 600, the 400-room Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino has 18,000 square feet of indoor/outdoor meeting space and golf. It opened new Italian and seafood restaurants last summer.
In addition to a casino and six restaurants, Viejas Casino has an outlet shopping center. The Viejas Band has announced plans for an $800 million expansion, including a 600-room hotel.
Northern California
The Sacramento area, which has four casinos, is another development hot spot.
In January, the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians unveiled the $530 million Red Hawk Casino 20 miles east of Sacramento. It has 2,000 slots, six restaurants and four bars.
In Placer County, 30 miles east of Sacramento, the Thunder Valley Casino launched a $1 billion expansion in summer 2008. The United Auburn Indian Community put construction on hold in December, but has since resumed work.
Expected to be completed next summer, the scaled-down expansion will include a 400-room hotel, 10,000-square-foot multipurpose entertainment center, spa, retail space and additional gaming space.
In Brooks, Cache Creek Casino Resort offers a 200-room hotel, more than 3,000 slot machines and 5,000 square feet of event space. In April, it opened a new 17,951-square-foot clubhouse for its 18-hole, Troon Golf-managed Yocha-De-He Golf Club, which debuted in early 2008.
The resort is owned by the Rumsey Band, which has been negotiating with Yolo County over infrastructure costs for a proposed expansion that is to include 467 guest rooms and a conference center.
The area is also home to the Jackson Rancheria, in Jackson in Amador County, which features a 1,500-slot casino, a hotel and more than 8,000 square feet of meeting space.
In a two-year project, ground was broken last year on a $75 million expansion to the Win-River Casino located between Redding and Anderson, 150 miles north of Sacramento. Downsized from a $90 million development, it will include a 121-room hotel, new restaurants and a remodeled event center.
Citing tight credit markets, the Dry Creek Rancheria Band in Sonoma County near Geyserville has put plans on hold for a new $300 million casino resort that would have included a 260-room hotel and an event center.
Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino, in Coarsegold near Yosemite National Park, unveiled a $100 million expansion last year that included new restaurants and a 221-room tower, bringing its total rooms to 413.
Washington
The Evergreen State has almost 30 casinos, including the $130 million Tulalip Resort Casino, which opened a 370-room hotel and 30,000 square feet of meeting space north of Seattle last year.
The property also offers a spa, several restaurants, a 3,000-seat amphitheater and more than 100 stores at Seattle Premium Outlets.
In November, the Snoqualmie Tribe opened its first casino, the $375 million Casino Snoqualmie 30 miles west of Seattle. It features an 11,000-square-foot ballroom, five restaurants, four lounges and a 1,700-slot casino.
Outside Spokane, last New Year’s Eve saw the opening of a 50,000-square-foot casino expansion of the Northern Quest Resort & Casino, which brought its number of gaming machines to 1,600. It is part of a $200 million expansion that is expected to include a 250-room hotel by the end of this year.
At the 105-room Silver Reef Hotel, Casino & Spa, north of Bellingham, the Lummi Nation recently unveiled an $8.6 million expansion, adding gaming space and new restaurants. The property has 6,300 square feet of function space,
Other Washington casinos with meeting space include the 85-room Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort Hotel & Spa on Puget Sound; the 98-room Little Creek Casino Resort north of Olympia; the 103-room Skagit Valley Casino Resort in Bow; and the 150-room beachfront Quinault Beach Resort and Casino in Ocean Shores.
Oregon
The Beaver State has nine Indian casinos, including seven with hotels and meeting space.
In June, Seven Feathers Casino Resort in Canyonville unveiled a $40 million, 154-room guest room expansion that brought its room count to 298. The project also included a new and expanded lobby and reception area, a business center, a new cafe and 250-seat buffet, and a spa. It also added meeting rooms for smaller groups to its existing 22,000-square-foot convention center.
Mill Casino Hotel, on the waterfront overlooking Coos Bay, recently opened a 92-room hotel tower addition, bringing its number of rooms to 204. This completed a multiyear project that included a casino expansion. The Coquille Tribe’s resort has 14,000 square feet of meeting space, a 700-slot casino and five restaurants.
Florence has the Three Rivers Casino & Hotel, which has 93 guest rooms, five restaurants and an 8,500-square-foot events center.
In Willamina, 65 miles southwest of Portland, the 254-room Spirit Mountain Casino has a 2,500-slot casino, 4,800 square feet of meeting and banquet space and a 1,600-seat events center, which it opened in May last year.
In Pendleton at the base of the Blue Mountains, the 100-room Wildhorse Resort & Casino reopened its remodeled 6,700-square-foot event center a year ago. It has golf and almost 18,000 of total meeting and event space.
Among other Beaver State resorts are Lincoln City’s oceanfront 308-room Chinook Winds Casino, with 35,000 square feet of meeting space; and, in Warm Springs, the 139-room Kah-Nee-Ta High Desert Resort and Casino, where meeting space totals 15,000 square feet.
Other States
Colorado got its first Indian casino resort last November with the debut of the Southern Ute Tribe’s Sky Ute Casino Resort & Conference Center in Ignacio in the Four Corners region, where Colorado Arizona, Utah and New Mexico meet.
Replacing a smaller casino, it has a 146-room hotel, spa, bowling center, miniature golf and meeting space that includes an 18,000-square-foot ballroom.
Idaho has the 196-room Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel in Worley, 30 minutes from Spokane, with 12,000 square feet of conference space and 18 holes of golf.
In June, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe announced it was embarking on a $75 million expansion that will add 105 guest rooms, new restaurants and a 15,000-square foot spa when completed in mid-2011.
Montana has the Best Western KwaTaqNuk Resort in Polson, which offers a casino and banquet space for up to 300 people. Nevada’s three Native American casinos include the Fort Mojave Tribe’s 455-room Avi Resort and Casino in Laughlin, with a golf course and an 11,000-square-foot meeting center.
