Sunday, December 15, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

GOLDEN STATE TRIBAL CASINOS GO GLITZY

The Barona Band of Mission Indians operate a $260 million casino on its reservation near Lakeside, Calif. Photo by BREVIN BLACH/ SPECIAL TO THE REVIEW JOURNAL

The Pechanga Resort & Casino outside Temecula, a $260-million complex that opened this summer, illustrates the challenge posed by American Indians in California and the threatened competition for Nevada.

The adobe-style architecture is reminiscent of California-Native Americana. But inside, it's pure Las Vegas glitz.

It offers seven restaurants, charges a $4 fee to draw cash from the automated teller machines and echoes with a nonstop ring-a-ding from the slots.

It may not match Bellagio or The Venetian, but it is closer to the mark than the Indian casinos of yore.

The Pechanga casino was financed largely through a $150-million bank loan and without the help of a corporate gambling giant. That, analysts said, is the beginning of a trend, as tribes forgo the assistance of Nevada players and strike out on their own.

In the same vein, the Agua Caliente tribe plans to expand its Spa Casino into a $400-million complex stretching across several blocks of downtown Palm Springs within five years. The new resort will be a one-stop getaway within walking distance of the Palm Springs Convention Center and a stone's throw from more than a dozen golf courses.

The Agua Caliente already operates two casinos in the area. One of the existing operations, the Spa Resort Casino, operates under a semipermanent tent that will be replaced by November 2003 with an upscale 119,000-square-foot, three-restaurant casino that is expected to contain 50 table games and 1,400 slot machines.

Similarly, the Twentynine Palms Band of Mission Indians near Coachella signed a deal with Donald Trump in April to turn its Spotlight 29 casino into a $60 million resort to be renamed the Trump 29.

The Barona Casino, owned and operated by the Barona Band of Mission Indians on its reservation near Lakeside, Calif., has specifically targeted Las Vegas turf.

Even before the tribe opened its $260 million casino last week, Barona casino executives already ran a gambling operation many Las Vegas gaming bosses would envy.

The casino's table games and slot machines see more action than many Las Vegas casinos and gambling action is reported to be as good as anywhere in the world.

And the $125-million Harrah's Rincon Casino & Resort north of San Diego, a Harrah's branded tribal operation, targets the company's Las Vegas and Laughlin customers.

It seems the times definitely are changing.

ROD SMITH/GAMING WIRE