Marking five years since the $825 million Graton Resort and Casino opened near Rohnert Park in Sonoma County, becoming the biggest Indian casino in Northern California, the 1,400-member tribe that built it and the region around it have been unalterably changed.
Tribal Chairman Greg Sarris, chairman of the Graton Rancheria, who was interviewed by the Press-Democrat, summed up what he considers the benefits the casino has wrought: “We had dreams of providing great jobs for people. We had dreams of supporting the local economy. We had dreams of furthering our mission of environmental stewardship and social justice.” He added, “In the last five years, we have done all of those things, I think, very well. I’m very happy about that.”
The 320,000 square foot casino was built in a former 254-acre cow pasture. It was a partnership of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and Station Casinos. Since its opening it has become one of the county’s largest private employees as well as a prime destination for tourists visiting the Bay Area.
It employs about 2,000, paying for their health insurance and has provided in excess of $100 million in employee benefits since it opened.
The casino has 3,300 slots and 131 gaming tables and has 700,000 members of its loyalty programs. It is the largest casino in Northern California, and one of the largest in the state.
The tribe, once very poor, now pays annual stipends to its members, while providing college scholarships and social programs. It is also able to provide charitable support to a variety of causes. Including recent contributions of about $2.5 million to groups that include Sonoma State University, the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District and the Rohnert Park Senior Center. It paid $280,000 to the nonprofit Redwood Empire Food Bank.
It also pays tens of millions of dollars to local government, as required by its state tribal gaming compact.
Certainly, few of the positive ills that were predicted by critics came to pass. The casino has not led to an overall decline in quality of life. It has not demonstrably increased traffic or crime or depleted the area’s groundwater.
There has been some increase in arrests and reports of illegal activity, but law enforcement says no more than would be normal for the size of the business.
Sonoma County Supervisor David Rabbit, who represents the voters of the district that includes the casino, told the Press-Democrat “I still remember people saying how it was gonna be Armageddon or, on the other side, how it was gonna be this huge cash cow.” He added “It’s probably neither. It’s operating, and it seems to have kind of found its place within the community, and the community has found its place with it.”
Tribes, being sovereign entities, are not required to detail their profits, but Sarris said in the last five years they have been hundreds of millions of dollars and that this last year has been the “best year ever.” Each of the last few quarters have set records.
He attributes this to “very bold” marketing that touted such things as new the nonsmoking area with 300 slot machines and the deliberate strategy of becoming part of the Bay Area’s market. Another smart decision, Sarris says, was to build its new $175 million hotel and add 300,000 SF to the resort. Even so the resort operates at capacity.
Sarris brags, “The word is out, and spreading. There’s nothing like it.”
The resort’s general manager Kord Nichols says they attract almost 10 million patrons annually, mainly from the Bay Area but not limited to it.
Before the casino came along the city of Rohnert Park had contemplated annexing the old cow pasture and making it into a retail shopping center, which would have generated considerable tax revenues. Revenues the city doesn’t get since the land is now tribal land. On the other hand, the tribe has made more than $47 million to the city, some of it to make up for taxes the city would have received.
Sonoma County has a 20-year agreement with the tribe whereby it has paid $28 million so far, including more than $25 million to emergency services. The state has collected $7 million in quarterly payments.
There have been increases in police and emergency calls, says Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Crum. “Certainly, they’re higher,” he told the Press-Democrat. “A casino was built. It would certainly be attributed to thousands of people going to the same location, a casino, which comes with gambling, drinking and drugs, fraud, theft.”
He added, “It’s the new normal out there. They didn’t build a church, they built a casino. They’re going to have calls for service.”
The Rincon Valley Fire Protection District has seen a significant increase in calls since 2013. Most have been for medical aid, with some intoxicated patrons and some parking lot assault victims.
The casino has facial recognition technology that allows it to work closely with local police to identify suspects and report them.
An early critic of the casino, Chip Worthington, pastor of the Rohnert Park Assembly of God Crossroads Church and leader of the coalition that tried to fight the casino with state and federal lawsuits, is still an opponent. “There’s three major problems: Crime is rampant because of the casino; there have been thousands of personal tragedies because of bankruptcy; and prostitution is out of control,” he said, adding that he believes the police underreport casino-related crimes.
The Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety, which oversees police and fire, has seen responses go from about 105 when the casino opened to 187 and finally 296 last year.
Yet city officials say they can’t make a connection between crime and the casino, especially since several large retailers in that side of town also attract considerable shoplifting.
“I’m not comfortable linking it specifically to, ‘You showed up and now we have problems,’ ” said Police Cmdr. Aaron Johnson. “People would love to be able to say that is the cause. The stigma comes with the name ‘casino.’ ”
Sarris adds that more people coming into and leaving the area and using a business that operates 24/7 will mean more types of crime and services. “You’ve got to consider the volume of people,” he told the Press-Democrat. “When you have that many people in one place, thousands of people going through there a day, of course things are going to happen that didn’t happen before.”
The benefits to the tribe have been considerable, says Sarris. Where once 80 percent of the tribe’s youths dropped out of school, now 90 percent graduate from high school. They also take advantage of scholarships, which pays full freight for any college they wish to attend.
To get that money young people must earn a high school diploma or GED, and learn about their tribal culture and history.
The Graton Rancheria helped tribal members affected by the wildfires of last year, providing more than $245,000 to more than 130 families who were affected, including five who lost their homes.
It also donated $1 million to relief efforts for victims of that fire, including many casino employees who were impacted by the wildfire. It provided free rooms at the hotel for evacuees.
The casino has given the tribe the ability to intervene politically in several issues that were dear to the hearts of the tribe, such as spending $307,000 for a measure that raised a sales tax for public parks, and $22,000 to oppose a $124 million housing bond proposal.
Sarris declares, “Expect the fight to be stronger in the future to protect those issues, to protect people in this community and protect the environment.” He adds, “We are here, and I think it’s the first time in this community where, all of a sudden, there’s been a player that hasn’t been recognized that politicians and others are going to have to be attentive to.”
