Wilton Rancheria aims to open its Indian casino at the Elk Grove outlet mall in Northern California sometime in 2020. Wilton Chairman Raymond Hitchcock told the Elk Grove Citizen the tribe is moving forward on its $500 million casino on 35.9 acres. It would be the first such project in Sacramento County.
“There’s no definitive date yet, but we’re looking at early 2019 to begin this process, and it’s slated for completion by late 2020,” he said. Preparations have begun for a groundbreaking on the site, he said.
Last February a federal judge denied a lawsuit that challenged the decision by the Department of the Interior to put the land into trust.
At that time Hitchcock commented, “There have been many assertions that the land was not properly put into trust. We were 100 percent confident the whole time, and everything was done appropriately and by how the federal government has their processes put up to put land into trust, and it was done accordingly.”
Last October the National Indian Gaming Commission approved the management contract between the tribe and Boyd Gaming.
Last year the tribe penned a memorandum of understanding with the city of Elk Grove and Sacramento County in which it promised to invest more than $180 over 20 years for infrastructure, public safety, schools and community programs.
Hitchcock said the casino could help the tribe have medical and dental care. “We want to do an elder center and provide services for our tribal elders. We want to explore and expand our educational scholarship programs, and give them opportunities and resources that they’ve never had before,” he said.
