The Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians said yesterday that it plans to build an $800 million casino-hotel resort – the most expensive in the state – just east of its existing 2,500-slot casino and outlet mall.
As envisioned, the new resort 35 miles from downtown San Diego would feature 2,500 slots, a 600-room hotel, a pool, a spa, shops, restaurants, a conference center, a multiplex movie theater, two parking structures and a new power plant.
“Its a huge deal,” said Viejas Chairman Bobby Barrett, noting that the plans are still in the works and the numbers may change.
The tribes general council – made up of all its adult members – approved the plan Wednesday, Barrett said. The tribe hopes to complete construction in five years.
Its a bold move for a tribe that has changed chairmen and seen the head of its business units leave in the past year.
If built, the new resort would make Viejas the first tribe in California to have two side-by-side casinos and the second to have two casinos. Agua Caliente has casinos in Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage.
The Viejas project is nearly as expensive as the $1 billion hotel and convention center that Gaylord Entertainment has proposed in on-again, off-again negotiations with Chula Vista. Gaylords development would have three times as many rooms, and it wouldn have a casino.
“Theyll be going after a different market,” said David Peckinpaugh, CEO of the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau.
“(Viejas) focus is primarily leisure,” Peckinpaugh said. “Not group business, convention business.”
Lyn Baxter, interim CEO of Viejas Enterprises, the tribes business arm, said: “Its not just about the slots. Its more about a complete resort experience.”
The new Viejas resort would be the most expensive casino in the state, said Michael Lombardi, a gambling consultant who has run several tribal gambling operations.
“Eight hundred million dollars? Oh yeah, absolutely,” Lombardi said. “Now you e talking.”
Theres plenty of demand in Southern California for such a large project, if done the right way in the right place, Lombardi said. Viejas is close to a freeway and near urban areas.
San Diego County casinos are bringing in about $300 per slot machine per day, analysts say.
“The demand for slot machines is greater than the supply,” Lombardi said.
The resort plans also open up the possibility that there eventually could be three casinos on the Viejas reservation.
The Ewiiaapaayp (pronounced WEE-a-pye) band has signed a deal with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to put a casino on the Viejas reservation, although the federal government has indicated that it would reject it.
Several casino observers had the same reaction as Cheryl Schmit when told of the Viejas plans: “Wow.”
A casino that big could be a risk, said Schmit, who heads Stand Up for California, a state gambling watchdog group. However, she said, it shows that Viejas is willing to set itself apart not only in what it does, but how it does it.
Many tribes have done casino expansions piece by piece. The Viejas plan calls for the tribe to plan everything and enter into a deal with county officials on how it will deal with all the impacts, Schmit said.
“Its different than the ways tribes have done it in the past,” she said.
Barrett, the tribes chairman, said he knows Viejas will have to deal with how its project affects traffic, water, problem gamblers and other issues.
“We will be sitting down with our neighbors,” he said.
Viejas opened the countys third Indian gambling hall, a 10,000-square-foot card room, in 1990 and expanded it three times so that it is now home to more slot machines than any other.
A 1999 compact allowed Viejas and a number of other tribes to operate two casinos each, but capped slots at a total of 2,000 per tribe.
In 2004, the tribe signed a new deal with Schwarzenegger allowing it as many slot machines as it wants. But the extra machines come with a catch: Contributions to the state ratchet up.
While the tribe now pays the state $12,000 a year for each machine it has over 2,000, the next set of machines will cost more. Contributions to the state will top out at $25,000 per machine if it goes over 4,500 slots.
Last year, Viejas Casino brought in about $300 million, according to the tribe.
After salaries, taxes, goods and services and other expenses, the tribal government said it ended up with a quarter of that, which was spent on a variety of services: fire protection, health care, education, roads, water and sewers. What remained was divided among the 213 tribal members, it said.
“We need the revenues that we can generate to sustain the lifestyles that we currently have for the children and the generations that aren here yet,” Barrett said.
The huge new resort would be part of a third wave of casino expansions in the state. The first started in the 1980s and 90s, before slots were legalized. The second began when voters approved Proposition 1A in 2000. This one started with deals signed in 2004 that allowed some tribes unlimited slots.
The Pauma Band in North County is proposing a $300 million resort with the help of a Connecticut tribe. Its neighbor, Pala, is planning to spend $100 million to expand its casino.
Sycuan signed a compact that would allow it to build a second casino on a golf course it owns near its reservation, but that deal will require approval from the federal government and, possibly, California voters.
Before construction begins on the new casino, Viejas will have to pay for environmental studies and negotiate an agreement with the county, said John Snyder, the countys public works director.
Snyder is the point man for negotiations with the tribes, and he said a 48,000-square-foot expansion last year at Viejas was seen as a practice run for this larger project.
“Its likely that we will be able to work together and reach agreement,” Snyder said.
First on the list for Dr. Jane Fitz, an Alpine Planning Group member, will be traffic. “They need to build their own off-ramp from the freeway,” she said, concerned about drivers on roads near her house, three miles from the existing casino.
Fitz also is worried about water. “Right now they e using groundwater, and I don see how that can support what they e planning, particularly with the drought that weve been having.”
The tribe said that it believes theres enough water on the reservation for its expansion plans, but that its also working on buying water from Northern California or the Colorado River.
It has an agreement to store water underground in Kern County.
“I don really see that as a viable plan,” Fitz said. “Its something that will rob Peter to pay Paul.”
Article taken from http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/2007/08/24/2007-08-24_the_donald_smolders_over_casino_smoking_.html
The Donald smolders over casino smoking ban
By PHIL ROURA
Friday, August 24th 2007, 4:00 AM
The Donald, who after nearly 30 years is still the biggest name on the Boardwalk, is demanding that the mayor and city council repeal the law limiting smoking to 25% of a casino.
Im a nonsmoker, Trump tells the Daily News. But Atlantic City casinos have been put in a very bad position with other places that don have a smoking ban.
Since the law was enacted, casinos have seen profits shrink nearly 4% over the past seven months.
That is due to a large extent by the smoking ban, Trump insists. People are going to Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New York where they can smoke if they wish.
In a letter to the mayor and local lawmakers last week, Trump wrote:
The negative impact of the city ordinance is even more than the mere loss of a large number of smoking patrons to Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut casinos and the perhaps permanent decline in Atlantic City gaming revenue. It also requires that each casino operator expend millions of dollars to enclose its gaming-floor smoking areas with structures which will significantly obstruct the customary flow of gaming patron activity and at the same time look absolutely terrible.
City government has the authority to remove this substantial impediment to our ability to compete with the [the other casinos]. Many millions of dollars are being lost by Atlantic City and the state of New Jersey. Please act quickly (before it is too late)!
But while he still wields a lot of influence, Trump isn sure what will happen.
Im hopeful they will do something, he says, ut its a political situation. And you know about politicians. A lot of them agree with me, but that doesn mean they will follow through.
Casinos have until Sept. 15 to submit their building plans for fully enclosed smoking areas.
TROP LOPS 33
Speaking of jobs, the Tropicana this week cut its security staff by 33 people - and it would have been more if the New Jersey Casino Control Commission hadn stepped in.
We expressed concerns about regulatory compliance and public safety, says commission spokesman Dan Hennigan. As a result of those discussions, Tropicana scaled back the size of the reductions.
Since the Trop was sold last year, theyve pared down the entire workforce. At the beginning of the year, the Trop had 4,507 employees; they are now down to 3,766. Fred A. Buro, former president of the Trop, was axed last month.
HIS PITCH COUNT AT 21
Yes, that was Atlanta Brave hurler John Smoltz hovering around the blackjack tables at the Atlantic City Hilton the other day. The likely future Hall of Famer ate at the nightclub 10Til before hitting the casino floor where he signed autographs.
A FOXY WAY TO WIN
Foxwoods is giving away $300,000 from Aug. 31- Sept. 2 to Wampum Reward cardholders. Every 15 minutes between 7:30 and 11:30 p.m., the casino will hand out $3,000. And each night at midnight, one cardholder gets $50,000. Become eligible by playing slots or table games or by swiping the card at any kiosk beginning at 6 a.m.
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