A federal judge has ruled in favor of the Wilton Rancheria of California and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), affirming that the BIA acted correctly when it put 36 acres into trust for the 800-member landless tribe. The tribe hopes to build a $500 million casino.
Judge Trevor N. McFadden’s decision will allow the tribe to go forward with a casino in Elk Grove. Tribal Chairman Raymond (Chuckie) Hitchcock hailed the decision: “We are gratified by the judge’s ruling to decisively reject dishonest arguments put forth by well-funded special interest groups that have tried at every turn to stop our project.”
He added, “We will continue to move ahead with our plans to build the resort and casino, which will create thousands of jobs and represents the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars by Wilton Rancheria in the City of Elk Grove and Sacramento County.”
The tribe’s status was terminated in the 1950s when Congress made a concerted effort to end the reservation system. However, its status was restored by the BIA in 2009. From that point, it took the tribe five years to initiate and complete the land into trust process. In 2018 the tribe negotiated a Class III gaming compact with then Governor Jerry Brown and then obtained approval by the National Indian Gaming Commission of its casino management contract with Boyd Gaming Corp.
The tribe’s status was unsuccessfully challenged in 2017 by Stand Up for California, a casino watchdog group, which challenged the Wilton Rancheria’s status as a tribe and argued that its land didn’t qualify as “tribal lands.”
The judge granted a motion for summary judgment to throw out the case. Stand Up Director Cheryl Schmit wrote the Sacramento Business Journal, “We are disappointed in the recent ruling and currently considering our next steps.”
Plans are to open the casino next year or early 2021. In 2017, Boyd Gaming bought the 36 acres in Elk Grove at the site of a defunct shopping mall for the tribe from the Howard Hughes Corp. for $36 million. Hitchcock said groundbreaking is “imminent.”
Besides a casino, the project would include a hotel, dining and a spa.
