New indian casino coming to BARSTOW, CA soon

[desertrunner]

Dont know if Druff ever covered this on radio yet. I guess this has been going on since atleast 2016 and there are two local indian tribes fighting for the land/project. Me personally, I rather not see any more indian casinos in California, there's enough.

Today, I just spoke to a trusted friend in Barstow public safety and he said there's only one thing left- "Just waiting on Signature on the CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) report." Looks like one spot might be on Lenwood Road.

Two Southern California tribes have sought for over twenty years to build an Indian gaming casino in Barstow California.

Both tribes are federally recognized and both claim ancestral ties to the Barstow area. The Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians have a reservation in Warner Springs and the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe's reservation is in Lake Havasu.

A Barstow casino requires federal approval for either tribe. Since neither has reservation land in Barstow, the federal government considers Barstow an "off-reservation" casino. If approved, the U.S. Department of Interior will transfer the Barstow casino land into federal trust for the tribe as an addition to the reservation.

Barstow Casino | Updates 2024
BARSTOW CASINO PROJECT UPDATE

[desertrunner]

Go this from another board...

The Feds have never approved a Tribal casino that was not located on the Tribe's reservation.

Tribes that have bought property off-Reservation and attempted to conduct gaming operations there have all been shut down by the Feds.
^This is why some Tribes petition and continue to petition the Feds to allow them to expand the borders of their Reservation, in the guise of reclaiming traditional Tribal lands.

The Feds have allowed Tribes to go into partnership with an off-Reservation non-Tribal entity and that non-Tribal entity legally runs the gaming operation in accordance with the State laws of where that gaming operation is located.

The Feds have allowed Tribes to obtained ownership of existing gaming operations that are off-Reservation and run those operations in accordance with the State laws of where that existing gaming operation is located.


FWIW...

For the last two decades I have heard about the Barstow casino project, which is being attempted by the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe and the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians.

Other Tribes located within Southern California:
1. Have written the project off as a lost cause and they all agree that both Tribes are simply wasting resources trying to make it come true.
2. Have discovered that the city and other entitles keep promising both the Tribes it will happen as long they keep donating them money.
^Pay X amount to make it happen, oh no new hurdle, now pay Y amount, rinse and repeat for the last 20 years.
3. Have provided support to the Feds to ensure this never happens.


IMO...
This will only happen if one of the Tribes pays off President Biden to direct the Secretary of the Interior to approve it.

[Dan Druff]

I think that analysis above is correct.

While a Barstow casino would possibly do well, I wasn't aware of any Indian land there, and indeed there isn't any. The "ancestral home" argument is LOL, because most of the US could be called "ancestral land" for Indian tribes, as they were the only residents prior the Europeans showing up in the 1400s.

I agree that such claims will likely be rejected.

Barstow is a coveted spot for a casino because of its near exact midpoint location between LA and Vegas (as well as San Diego and Vegas).

The weakness of Primm is that it's too close to Vegas (40 miles south). Southern California casinos such as Morongo and Yamavaa are popular with locals and other LA area people, but people don't really stop at them to/from Vegas, as they are too close to home already.

Barstow would make for a nice stop for people to stretch their legs on the way to Vegas, and maybe get some "pre-Vegas" gambling in. It would also make for a nice "last chance" stop for those coming back, who lost in Vegas. I could see such a casino doing quite well.

I just don't see it happening.

In fact, there is not a single tribal casino located anywhere along I-15 between I-10 (Ontario, CA) and the Nevada state line. So once you leave Nevada, you're not going to directly pass by any casino until you're all the way back in southern CA.

[Bilbodoggins]

a few years ago, a tribe in Long Island NY (Suffolk County) wanted to build a casino. Problem was, their small piece of land was in a narrow bottleneck and building it would have been a logistical nightmare, not to mention the insane traffic problems if it was ever completed. One creative solution that was proposed was to somehow trade their land for another parcel somewhere else in the area. Nothing came of it, but I was all for it as it would have increased my property value and maybe even provided me with a job!