The Indian casinos of Southern California are engaged in a multi-player, multilevel expansion game as complicated as 3-dimensional chess, where outright expansion is often less desirable than waiting until just the right time to expand. Where knowing when to stop is just as important as deciding what to build. Add to that the challenge of attracting not only gaming but non-gaming patrons.
They also want to avoid saturating the market, which would be bad for everyone.
Twenty years ago, casinos in Southern California were considerably different than what they are today. Many were housed in tents. Today the luxury resort casinos of the southland compare favorably with some of the best on the Las Vegas Strip, including many of the non-gaming amenities.
How Indian casinos are reacting to this changing world is part of the ever swirling world where resort casino never rest, and always are either just finished, just beginning or in the midst of an expansion.
The Press-Enterprise interviewed Christopher Thornberg, director of UC Riverside School of Business Center for Economic Forecasting and Development, who observed, “A casino can be an anchor but that’s not the exclusive draw. In Las Vegas it’s really about pools, nice hotels and entertainment and I think California is following that model.”
Call it a boom, or a casino “arms race” but there’s no denying that Southern California has been a hive of building and expansion among the many casinos in the region. Hotel towers, pool complexes, more and better restaurants, stepped up entertainment venues were all part of the mix.
Pechanga Development Corporation has overseen Pechanga casino’s continued dominance as the largest casino resort on the West Coast. Jared Munoa, its president, told the Press-Enterprise, “For us, it wasn’t the gaming experience that we needed to expand. We saw a greater need for a complete resort experience because we are not just a casino.”
Pechanga just completed a $300 million expansion in 2017. That same year San Manuel Casino began building a $550. Soboba Casino is in the midst of a project that will open early next year. Near Cabazon, Morongo Casino Resort & Spa last week unveiled plans for a renovation that will include 800 more slots and 750 valet parking spaces.
It will expand the casino by 65,000 square feet and change out some restaurants in a project with a projected completion date of 2020.
Earlier this year Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa announced a major expansion in the midst of adding a new gaming space and restaurants right now.
Pala Casino Spa & Resort just announced that it was completing a renovation that included a new pool complex, expanded restaurants and a new parking garage. However, Pala had previously pulled in its horns when it stopped plans to add a second hotel tower, putting off announcing what it plans to do until the end of 2018.
On a somewhat smaller scale is the 57-room hotel and casino complex that the Cahuilla Band of Indians has broken ground on to replace its existing casino in Anza on Highway 371, which is about 30 miles east of Pechanga and 35 miles southwest of Palm Desert. That casino, whose size and expense has not yet been announced, will remain open during construction, which is aiming at a completion before the end of 2019.
Pala’s COO Bill Bembenek told the Press-Enterprise “We want to see how the market is going to absorb the inventory,” Bill Bembenek, Pala’s chief operating officer said, referring to the other Southern California casinos adding lodging. “We are not in a situation where we feel we’re behind in the market, we’re in a position to see where we stand
