A tribal state gaming compact signed between the 750-member Ione Band of Miwok Indians and Governor Gavin Newsom August 4 will allow the tribe to open the third casino in Amador County, California.
It would also be the seventh casino in the Sacramento area. It would be on 220 acres near Highway 49 in Plymouth. So far the tribe hasn’t announced a partnership with a casino management company or developer.
Tribal Chairwoman Sara Dutschke told the Sacramento Bee that the tribe is in early development of the casino; a process brought to a crawl by the coronavirus pandemic. The tribe has been pursuing the casino for more than ten years, fighting off attempts by Amador County and other opponents to stop them.
In 2015 a federal court dismissed two legal challenges to the legality of the action by the Bureau of Indian Affairs putting the 220 acres into trust. That process concluded six months ago.
When the tribe began that process it didn’t have nearly as many potential gaming rivals. One of the newest and closest is Harrah’s Northern California, which opened about 11 miles from Plymouth.
That has complicated the tribe’s ability to get financing, according to Dutschke: “The landscape has changed dramatically since we embarked on this process.” The tribe is studying the market to determine whether it could bear a casino with 1,200 slot machines.
