Palm Springs tribe to build new casino, expand another

Ben Fox

Tuesday, March 14, 2000 | 8:54 a.m.

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - An Indian tribe's plan to build an $80 million casino in the desert near Rancho Mirage has drawn a lukewarm response from officials in the resort city known as a haven for golfers and privacy-conscious celebrities.

The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians said Monday it would build the casino near Interstate 10 in the Coachella Valley, about two hours east of Los Angeles. The tribe also plans to spend at least $150 million to expand its existing casino in nearby Palm Springs.

"The honest truth is that no one wants gambling in their back yard," said Marilyn Glassman, the mayor of Rancho Mirage. "But it's their right to build a casino."

Tribal chairman Richard Milanovich said the 135,000-square-foot casino is scheduled to open in late spring 2001 on a 40-acre site at the edge of Rancho Mirage, a city of golf courses and exclusive communities whose residents include former President Gerald Ford.

The Agua Caliente band would 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, 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, he said.

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

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.

Agua Caliente officials outlined the plans in private to Glassman and another member of the city council last week, but the mayor acknowledged the city has no real control of the project since the tribe is a sovereign nation and the 40 acre site is just outside Rancho Mirage's boundaries.

City officials are concerned about environmental consequences from the new casino, which will have 750 slot machines, 40 table games and off-track betting, as well as additional demands on the police and fire services of Rancho Mirage, the mayor said.

"We will try to work with the Agua Caliente tribe to lessen the impacts," Glassman said. "To their credit ... I think they are trying to build a quality project."

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.

Opponents also say casinos may bring economic development to tribes but will increase crime and social problems such as gambling addiction and debt.

"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.