Graton Rancheria, owners of the recently opened 5 million Graton Resort and Casino in Northern California, are doing so well that they are likely to pay off the 0 million redevelopment loan. The tribe will continue to owe about million to the casino’s manager, Station Casinos, but is expected to pay that off by the end of this year.
Station, meanwhile, has so far earned $7.4 million in management fees for the casino, considered the largest in the Golden State. It is also one of the most strategically located: 45 minutes from downtown San Francisco. It also reaps spillover traffic from Napa Valley and Silicon Valley.
The casino resort has 3,000 slots, 144 gaming tables, a poker room, four dining options and a 500-seat food court. A 200-room hotel is somewhere in the future, although at the rate the facility is growing, perhaps not that far of a future.
Station Casinos earned $7.4 million in management fees from the casino. It has a seven-year management contract with the tribe.
According to Credit Suisse gaming analyst Joel Simkins, quoted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal last week told investors, “Given an easily accessible location and deep feeder markets, Graton has put up big numbers out of the box.”
Shortly after it opened in November, Graton put away one of its smaller rivals, Cache Creek Casino Resorts, 30 miles away, which saw its revenues decline by more than 40 percent. During that same period the new casino collected a 500,000-name customer database.
The casino could partner with Station’s Ultimate Gaming should the Golden State legalize online poker.
