The Timbisha Shoshone Tribe of Kern County, central California, is seeking support from county officials for a small million off-reservation casino it would like to build near the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, five hours’ drive from its home base.
The tribe is based 130 miles away in Death Valley National Park. It seeks a municipal services agreement from the city of Ridgecrest, near where it hopes to build a casino. The casino would have 349 slots, six table games, two restaurants and an entertainment lounge. It would have about 180 jobs.
The Ridgecrest Daily Independent quoted Timbisha Shoshone Chairman George Gholson saying that the casino would be a “family-run business” intended to benefit the tribe’s younger generations.
“We want to learn a business, we want to understand a business,” he said. “We want our next generations to not live on welfare, to not be “you owe me” people. We want them to stand up, we want them to be educated, we want them to be heard, we want them to be seen. We don’t want to hide any longer. I am not a gambler myself, I’m not a drinker. I really, really look at this as a future for my people.”
Gholson told a group of Ridgecrest residents that his tribe has the money to operate a casino, but is otherwise broke. A casino will be the engine of funding schools, medical and housing for the tribe, he said.
“We have people right now who don’t have running water, they don’t have electricity, elders in their 70s. Can you imagine having to go out to the outhouse at 70-plus-years-old because you have the flu?” he said.
To be allowed to put land into trust the tribe would need to satisfy the “two-part determination” provisions of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
