Will The Elk Grove Casino Project Move Ahead?

Home » Poker News » Will The Elk Grove Casino Project Move Ahead?

Monday, February 6th, 2017 | Written by Shane Larson

Those familiar with California’s push to advance online gambling legislation are all too aware of the controversy surrounding the issue, with disputes between tribal factions stymieing efforts towards bringing online poker and casino games to California residents. The online gambling industry isn’t the only section of gaming where controversy is standing in the way of progress, though, and a battle is also brewing over a proposed land-based casino project in the Sacramento area.

The Elk Grove Casino Project

Known as the Elk Grove project, the Wilton Rancheria Casino and Resort in question would cover 600,000 square feet of land and cost $400 million to build, with Wilton Rancheria Chairman Raymond Hitchcock describing the proposed venue as a “12-story, 300-room luxury hotel, with 30,000 square foot of conference space, a parking structure, a gaming floor with two thousand slot machines and various restaurants.”

The casino itself would be owned and operated by the Wilton Rancheria tribe, which was officially recognized by the U.S. government in 2009, but did not have claim to any tribal lands at the time. On the Friday that President Obama left office, the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the U.S. Department of Interior subsequently announced that it was placing a 36-acre plot of land into a Federal Trust for the tribe. Potentially, this could clear the way for the casino project, but the Wilton Rancheria tribe won’t be celebrating the deal just yet.

Knighted Ventures Voices Opposition

Knighted Ventures provides services for a number of card rooms in the Sacramento area, and if the Elk Grove project goes ahead, the card rooms are likely to see a drop in their overall revenues, which would in turn negatively impact the bottom line of Knighted Ventures. As a result, Knighted Ventures LLC has collected enough signatures to hold a local voter referendum on the issue that that could put the brakes on the project.

Potential Benefits

Ordinarily, locals would not have any say in a land grant like the one given to the Wilton Rancheria tribe, but the circumstances are different in this case. In acual fact, the 36 acres in question are actually a part of a plot of land that was relinquished by the Howard Hughes Corporation through a process that was approved by the Elk Grove City Council.

The Howard Hughes Corporation is planning to build a large outlet mall in the area, and transferring land to the tribe for the casino project makes sense for the corporation. This is because a casino would bring visitors to the area that would be prospective customers for the large outlet mall. Elk Grove itself is also eager to see the casino built, as it would mean jobs for locals and help to bolster the mall, which would in turn provide tax revenues.

Local Referendum Organized

Because the Elk Grove City Council’s decision was necessary for the deal to proceed, voters do have a right to weigh in on it. Instead, in a yet-to-be-scheduled referendum election, residents of Elk Grove will simply be asked whether or not they wish the real estate transaction to go ahead. What is not clear, however, is exactly what will happen if the voters say no, which is a real possibility. As Elk Grove resident Patty Johnson explains:

“If you’re drawing in crowds that are prone to different kinds of vices, then you’ll have those kinds of vices appearing. The security people might be snatching them out as fast as they can, but late at night, when everybody who goes to bed at a reasonable hour, you’ll have people who are hanging in there all night to gamble or to pursue whatever else they have an interest in.”

It’s possible that because the Bureau of Indian Affairs has already placed the land into a grant that no action could be taken, but it’s also conceivable that the deal would be undone, especially considering that Donald Trump is believed to be less supportive of tribal casino projects than his predecessor.