Table Mountain Rancheria, which operates Table Mountain Casino in California’s San Joaquin Valley last month announced plans for a $300 million new casino, resort and hotel to replace what is one of the oldest casinos in the Golden State.
The addition will include an events facility, bingo hall, more slot machines and a 151-room hotel and resort.
A spokesman for the tribe, Daniel Casas, told Valley Public Radio “We wanted more floor space, to have people to be able to move around without having to bump into machines and other individuals, so it’s better for the patron, second we wanted to have a higher ceiling for better ventilation.”
The tribe is self-financing the project, and it anticipates that traffic to the new casino will double, so it will also pay a share for several road and intersection improvements.
American Studies and Political Science professor at Fresno State University, Kenneth Hansen, author of “The New Politics of Indian Gaming,” predicts that proximity to Fresno will give the casino expansion an advantage in its competition with other area casinos.
Hansen said “For a lot of people it might be convenience. In the case of building a hotel at Table Mountain, people might stay there for convenience as opposed to coming in from out of town.”
Says Casas, “Our goal was really to service our current client base, there will be more people coming just to look. We don’t plan to make it too extravagant so we scare our customers away. We want to make sure our customers feel comfortable and welcomed.”
