The Agua Caliente Band of California’s Coachella Valley has begun the process of putting land into trust—towards opening a third casino, this one in Cathedral City.
The new facility will devote 65,000 square feet to gaming and 60,000 square feet to retail shopping.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs began holding scoping meetings on the land into trust process in January. Next will be an environmental assessment, which is expected to move faster than a formal “environmental impact statement” would take.
The process is helped by the fact that the 13 acres to be taken into trust is contiguous to the existing reservation. The band has two existing casinos, the Spa Resort Casino in Palm Springs and the Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa in Ranch Mirage. The 13 acres lie between them.
The recently amended tribal state gaming compact allows the tribe to operate four casinos.
