Palm Springs tribe to build new casino, expand another

Ben Fox

Monday, March 13, 2000 | 4:42 a.m.

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - An Indian tribe said Monday it will build an $80 million casino along a busy interstate in the desert two hours east of Los Angeles and to spend at least $150 million more expanding its existing gambling hall nearby in Palm Springs.

The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians will be the first tribe in the state to finish a new casino and the first with two casinos under rules approved by California voters last week with the passage of Proposition 1A, tribal chairman Richard Milanovich said.

Unlike other tribes that have announced plans to build casinos in partnership with gambling companies from outside the state, the Agua Caliente band will finance, build and operate the projects with its own revenues and bank loans, Milanovich said.

"We don't need someone from the outside to tell us how to operate our own business," he said at a news conference.

The new, 135,000-square-foot casino is scheduled to open in late spring 2001 on a 40-acre site near Interstate 10 in the resort city of Rancho Mirage.

A date hasn't been set for the overhaul of the tribe's 80,000-square-foot casino in downtown Palm Springs, which opened in 1995, officials said.

Milanovich said he outlined the projects to local officials.

Cathy Mitton, assistant city manager of Rancho Mirage, said the tribe presented the concept but not detailed plans to the mayor and one council member.

"They were gracious enough to share their ideas with us," Mitton said. "Obviously they are a sovereign nation and will proceed in a matter they see fit."

Gambling opponents said the tribe's plans are an example of California's headlong rush into Nevada-style gambling.

"This was what I feared was going to happen," said Assemblyman Bruce Thompson, a Republican from Fallbrook who opposed Proposition 1A.

Opponents of the measure, which received 65 percent of the vote, argued it would lead to rapid expansion of Indian casinos, followed by pressure on state government from card rooms and racetracks to allow them to expand their gambling activities.

The opponents say casinos may bring economic development to the tribes but will increase crime and social problems while siphoning money away from the economy.

"You don't just get the good stuff with gambling, you get the bad stuff as well," Thompson said.

Proposition 1A amended the state Constitution to codify an agreement between Gov. Gray Davis and tribes to allows the Indians to convert video-game-like machines that spit out paper instead of money into the standard, and more popular, coin-dispensing slots.

There are now 41 tribes operating 19,000 video-style machines. Under Proposition 1A, that number is expected to grow to 45,000 by some 59 tribes, although critics such as Thompson argue the total could reach 113,000 slot machines.

Tribes will also be allowed to eliminate the per-hand charges for card games and run house-banked games.

The day after the ballot measure won, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts Inc. said it will form a partnership with the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians in a $60 million casino expansion near Palm Springs.

Harrah's Entertainment Inc. also has signed a contract to develop a $100 million casino project in San Diego County with the Rincon San Luiseno Band of Mission Indians.

Other tribes, throughout the state, are considering similar plans.

Milanovich said a study commissioned by his tribe shows room for growth in the Southern California gambling market and he rejects the idea of negative consequences.

"We live in this community. We're not going to destroy it," he said.