San Manuel Casino in San Bernardino County broke ground last week on a $550 million expansion that will put it squarely in the middle of a competitive free-for-all edifice complex among the biggest casinos in Southern California.
San Manuel recently increase the number of slot machines to 4,800, which is more than just about in casino in the region, including Las Vegas. It will also be building a 3,000 seat entertainment center.
In the casino industry, known for its “arms races” to build the biggest and the best, no one is ever on top for long before another big fish with a bigger maw comes along to try to gobble it up.
San Manuel is now challenging the biggest one on the West Coast, Pechanga Resort & Casino, with Morongo Resort & Spa and Agua Caliente Casino Resort & Spa not far behind. The intense competition has now caused Pala Casino Spa & Resort, which had planned to add a new 349 room hotel, to defer the project for the moment. Originally it had planned to complete the project next spring.
Hassan Abdel-Moneim, vice president of hotel operations for Pala alluded to the “movement in the market,” and said Pala is still deciding when to start building the new tower, and how big to make it. The architectural and design plans are ready, he said.
Loren Gill, San Manuel’s general manager, said building a hotel was important to keeping the casino’s customers happy. He told the San Diego Union Tribune, “San Manuel has always been a locals and regional casino and we don’t have a hotel. … It’s something very obviously missing from our casino experience.”
The issue of guests wanting to spend the night has become the number one issue, said Gill. They constantly ask when a hotel will be coming, he said. He doesn’t expect San Manuel’s modest-sized hotel to make much of an impact on rivals such as Pechanga, which is adding rooms to bring it to nearly 1,100.
The exact size of San Manuel’s high end luxury hotel is being worked out, although it is known it will be between 14 and 17 stories, with as many as 500 rooms. The entertainment venue will be competing for the top acts.
Pechanga acknowledges that it is the 500 pound gorilla in the room. The casino’s development corporation board member Christina McMenamin told the U-T, “The competition is evolving. We are seeing more tribal facilities augment their gaming offerings to include more amenities like what we have provided for the last fifteen years,” adding, “We are constantly improving and raising the guest experience at Pechanga to stay ahead of the market. Because of our most recent expansion, no other gaming resort in Southern California offers a luxury hotel, a magnificent pool, luxury spa, and golf all at the same property.”
