TWIN PINE CASINO
The Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians want to turn the 12,000-square-foot casino into a 50,000-square-foot gaming destination complete with 700 slot machines, 12 table games,
10 poker tables and a 60-room hotel off Highway 29 north
of the Napa Valley.
RIVER ROCK CASINO
The Dry Creek Rancheria announced in June plans for a $300 million luxury resort hotel and casino to replace its current facility in Alexander Valley. Plans call for a 260-room hotel, conference meeting rooms, a cabaret, pool, spa and restaurants designed to resemble a Tuscan village terraced into the hillside.
SHODAKAI CASINO
The Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians unveiled plans in July for a tenfold expansion of its Redwood Valley casino. Plans call for a $50 million investment in the casino alone, with eventual construction of a four-story hotel with 118 rooms, an entertainment hall with seating for 1,500, and a five-story parking garage.
ROHNERT PARK CASINO
The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, in conjunction with Station Casinos, want to build a $450 million casino resort west of Highway 101. The tribe and Station Casinos bought 360 acres west of Rohnert Park and are undergoing environmental studies.
A Lake County tribe has announced a $36 million, 91,000-square-foot casino expansion that would quadruple its gaming floor and add a wine bar, lounge and hotel to entice potential gamblers to stop in as they travel Highway 29 between Napa County and Clear Lake.
"We're very excited. This secures our economic future," said Jose Simon III, chairman of the Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians, which owns and runs Twin Pine Casino.
The tribe's plans are just the latest in a string of announcements from Northern California tribes looking to expand gaming operations.
In June, the Dry Creek Rancheria announced plans for a Tuscan-style $300 million luxury resort hotel and casino to replace River Rock Casino in Alexander Valley. Days later, the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians unveiled plans for a $50 million investment in Shodakai Casino, to be followed by construction of a hotel and entertainment hall.
Middletown Rancheria is teaming with an East Coast tribe with a history of successful gaming to build a wood-exterior, lodgelike facility, expected to be completed in January 2009, Simon said.
Plans call for a one-story, 50,000-square-foot gaming floor that will house up to 700 gaming slot machines, 12 table games and 10 poker tables, Simon said. The gaming facility will be surrounded by a three-story, 60-room hotel, a bar and lounge and a separate deli and wine bar.
Twin Pines Casino currently is a 12,000-square-foot tentlike structure that houses 438 slot machines and eight table games, Simon said.
The increase in slot machines is allowed under the casino's 1999 state compact, so it is not required to negotiate another, he said. The tribe also has secured licenses for the gaming expansion, he said.
State Gambling Control Commission spokeswoman Anna Carr said 1999 compacts allow up to 2,000 machines, but it depends on what type of slot machines and whether licenses are available through a lottery.
The tribe secured a syndicated bank loan for the project with help from the Connecticut-based Mohegan Tribe, owners of the sprawling Mohegan Sun, one of the world's largest casinos, with more than 6,000 slot machines and 300 gaming tables. The Mohegan Tribe will benefit financially from the project by acting as the loan guarantor, Simon said.
Efforts to reach Mohegan Tribe officials were unsuccessful.
The Mohegan Tribe also has casino partnerships with other tribes and is in the process of again expanding the Mohegan Sun, located on 240 acres in Uncasville, Conn.
The Twin Pine expansion project will be good for Lake County, said Supervisor Ed Robey, who represents the Middletown area.
"It'll probably have a positive effect" on the economy, he said. "We need a hotel in the south county."
The casino, already one of the south county's largest employers, also will create new jobs, Robey said.
Middletown's population in 2000 was just over 1,000, according to Census figures, but that figure has grown significantly as would-be homeowners migrated north.
The casino currently employs more than 200 people, Simon said. It will increase to about 300 when the new facility is completed, he said.
The county also will reap rewards through an agreement under which the tribe contributes to county coffers, beginning with a $50,000 contribution before the casino's completion, Robey said.
The tribe additionally has agreed to add turn lanes on Highway 29, making turns into and out of the casino safer, he said.
Supervisor Jeff Smith was less enthusiastic than Robey but does not oppose the expansion.
"There's not a whole lot we can say or do about it other than work out something that will benefit us both," he said.
Lakeport Regional Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Officer Melissa Fulton said she's not aware of any opposition to the expansion, but few people are aware of it, she said.
Bill Wright, a Middletown Unified School District Board member said the expansion is a "non-issue" in the Middletown area.
"They've been a good neighbor," he said, noting the tribe makes donations to local schools.
You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com.
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