Elk Grove Community Hears Casino Proposal

The Wilton Rancheria Tribe held a community meeting this evening at the Falls Event Center on the proposed Elk Grove casino. A standing room only crowd of over 300 people attended the meeting. Tribal Chairman Raymond Hitchcock started off the community meeting by giving a presentation on the history of the Wilton Rancheria Tribe, including the process leading up to the choice of Elk Grove as the location for the proposed casino. He also shared renderings of the proposed casino. The casino will feature a 12 story hotel, 4 story parking garage, over 2000 slot machines, a food court, higher end restaurants, and a large convention area capable of holding over 3000 people for meetings, concerts and other events. 

The proposed location will be a 36 acre parcel that is currently owned by the Howard Hughes Corporation, owners of the unfinished Elk Grove Outlet Mall. The casino would be built between the mall and the Kaiser Medical building. Elk Grove became the preferred location over Wilton and Galt according to Hitchcock because the City of Elk Grove and County of Sacramento didn’t want a casino built in Wilton and the Galt location would have been more expensive because it lacked the infrastructure.

After the video presentation, Hitchcock then took written questions from the audience. Reactions from the crowd were mixed. A majority seemed to support the casino.  There were a couple of outbursts from residents opposed to the casino. 

Highlights of the meeting.

• The city of Elk Grove has no say on the casino.
• There will be not be a vote on the casino by residents of Elk Grove.
• The tribe will pay the city for impacts on the city including fire, police and roadway, which will take the place of taxes. This will be done through a “memorandum of understanding” or MOU. The details of that have not been finalized. 
• The tribal land will be a sovereign nation.
• The final say on the proposed casino rests with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the state of California which will have to approve the gaming compact.
• The Elk Grove Police Department will have jurisdiction over the casino and any crime related to it. The tribe will not have it’s own police or courts.
• There will not be any tax money used to build the casino. It will be privately financed. Boyd Gaming will operate the casino and receive 25% over 7 years. After that the tribe will take over the operations of the casino.
• Construction could begin in 2019 and will take 18-24 months to complete.
• Over 2000 jobs will added for the construction of the casino.
• Casino patrons must be over 21 to gamble

A live video of the event was posted to the Elk Grove Laguna Forums Facebook Page. Over 1700 viewers tuned in during the live streaming broadcast.

The Power Point presentation shown at the meeting is available online. It includes the renderings of the casino.