Harrah’s announces plans for tribal casino in Southern California

Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2000 | 10:08 a.m.

Another Las Vegas casino company has announced plans to enter the tribal gambling business in California.

Harrah's Entertainment said Tuesday it has signed a letter of intent with the Rincon San Luiseno Band of Mission Indians to develop and operate a $100 million casino project north of San Diego.

The agreement, contingent on California voters approving a March ballot measure that will expand tribal casino offerings, follows an earlier deal announced by Station Casinos Inc. to run a tribal casino northeast of Sacramento.

"We have long been advocates of Indian gaming, and we worked hard to build trust and support among these important partners," said Philip Satre, chairman and chief executive officer of Harrah's Entertainment.

Satre noted that Harrah's already operates tribal casinos in Arizona, North Carolina and Kansas.

The deals represent one way Nevada gaming firms are likely to try to maintain their businesses in the face of an expected expansion of Indian casinos in California. Indians in California appear likely to win the right to expand their gambling business through a popular March ballot measure.

Unlike an earlier measure that Nevada casinos invested millions of dollars to try and defeat, opponents of the March vote have gotten no money from Nevada's casino industry.

Las Vegas casino operators poured tens of millions of dollars into a campaign against Proposition 5, fearing the damage that could be caused by legalizing gambling in Nevada's largest market.

Terms of the Harrah's deal were not announced, but Harrah's is the biggest casino company to move into California tribal gambling. Harrah's operates 20 casinos in the United States.