California venture discontinued

Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2001 | 11:18 a.m.

Lakes Gaming Inc. announced it has terminated an agreement to develop a tribal casino 100 miles north of Sacramento.

The development would have been a joint venture between Lakes, MRD Gaming and the Paskenta tribe. Lakes said the decision to terminate the agreement was mutual. Talks ensued about six months ago.

"We just felt the scope (of the casino) had grown beyond what we originally intended to finance," said Lakes Chief Financial Officer Tim Cope. "The tribe and the joint venture were unable to find the third-party financing necessary to complete the project at that level."

Lakes has two remaining agreements to develop California tribal casinos -- one with the Shingle Springs tribe to develop a casino on U.S. 50 between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe, and a second with the Jamul tribe to develop a casino near San Diego.

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