Proposed casino managers explain tribe relations

August 20

The people who are said to be involved in managing a would be casino in San Pablo, California, were approached one by one and were not part of a bid process that other tribes have used to attract interested managers and investors according to a partner who is named in the deal. This deal, if it goes through, might become one of the biggest casinos in the country.

The Lytton Band of Pomo Indians, whose small Casino San Pablo card room would be made into a huge casino with 4,000 slot machines under an agreement made with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, has signed on a management group that includes the Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians, Palms resort owner George Maloof, former Las Vegas casino manager Jerry Turk and the Pala Band of Mission Indians, (who also own the Pala hotel-casino near San Diego managed by Turk).

The Rumsey tribe owns and manages the Cache Creek casino in the Sacramento area and had a previous business relationship with the Lytton tribe that dates back to at least 2000, when an act of Congress authorized the federal government to take the San Pablo card club into trust for the Lytton tribe, Turk said.

Turk said the Rumsey tribe later approached him to become involved in managing the San Pablo casino. He said he and the Rumsey tribe had mutual contacts. After working on the project for at least a year, he also stated that he mentioned bringing Maloof aboard because of the size of the rather large property. He believes the Rumsey tribe to be familiar with the Maloof family, who live in Sacramento and own the Sacramento Kings basketball team.

While the arrangement with multiple partners is not the most common practice,  it is something Turk has done in the past when he brought in Anchor Gaming (a slot machine maker) as a management partner in the Pala casino. Anchor Gaming, bought by competitor International Game Technology in 2002, later sold its stake in Pala's management company to Turk.

Turk also stated that some tribes have not been successful creating their own management for casino companies mostly due to the fact that they have not allowed any other casino partners.

PT would be plans are for a casino with approximately 4,000 slot machines, 150 to 200 table games, 7 restaurants and about a 21,000 square-foot convention-type center. The casino would not be constructed before at least a year and is said to be slated for a first quarter of 2007 opening.

To put things into perspective, the MGM Grand has about 2,900 slots and the Foxwoods casino in Connecticut, which is touted as the nation's largest, has many more than 6,000 slot machines.

It is said that a hotel is not part of the tribe's plans because of the card room site (the tribe's official reservation), can't host it.

The casino would compete with properties in Las Vegas as well as Reno, which is largely fed by tourists from Northern California, he said. He also said that the slot machines are the same kind as Las Vegas and Reno. The only difference is that they can't have roulette and craps.

The agreement with the governor would give the Lytton tribe the sole right to run a casino within a 35-mile radius if required conditions are met. In return, the tribe would give the state 25 percent of its winnings from their card games and slot machines

Over the 7 year contract, the management group will receive 25 percent of the San Pablo casino's net profit.

Turk said he does not have any certain or potential worries regarding any competition from other would be casinos in the San Francisco Bay Area. Two other Indian tribes have proposed casinos near Richmond in the East Bay.

During a press conference Thursday, California officials said Schwarzenegger would not support those casinos because they are proposed for urban areas. Officials say that the San Pablo casino, (the very first casino in an urban area given the ok in California), is not the same. The governor needed to deal with the Lytton tribe because the tribe had previously bought land for its casino through an act of Congress, they said.

The agreement with the Lytton tribe is one of five reached such deals reached with Indian tribes that will set in motion plans to build more casinos in California.

The Lytton tribal compact contains provisions similar to those found in Nevada casino regulations and is meant to be a template for future tribal compacts in California, according to state officials.

Those provisions include measures causing the casino to post addictive or problem gambling pamphlets and educate employees about gambling addiction, this also includes the right of the state to determine certain gaming employees ability to do so.