California Indian casino plans massive expansion

Thursday, Sept. 14, 2000 | 11:30 a.m.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- The Soboba Casino is getting twice as big.

The Soboba Band of Mission Indians showed off plans for a $147 million casino expansion Tuesday, the most expensive in the Inland area since the passage of Prop. 1A in March.

A new 125,000-square-foot casino on the reservation near San Jacinto will be nearly twice the size of the current Soboba Casino, tribal Chairman Robert Salgado said. Plans include a golf course, hotel and more Nevada-style games. California tribes were given the right to operate such games when voters approved Prop. 1A.

Salgado said the resort will offer residents an alternative to traveling to Las Vegas.

"I think we're looking at something that's very nice," Salgado said. "I want a nice place. I want a clean place. I want a place where I can enjoy myself."

The new casino will have about 2,000 slot machines, up from about 1,500, and will add more Vegas-style games like roulette, Salgado said.

A convention center will have the capacity for about 2,000 people. The tribe will continue to offer live entertainment and boxing.

Salgado said the tribe plans to have the resort complete by July 2002.

Money for the project will come from a Wells Fargo Bank loan, the tribe's economic development fund and casino revenues, Salgado said.