Red Rock to manage new California US$350-400 million property
North Fork Rancheria is building a casino & hotel on Highway 99 near Madera, California. The casino includes 2,000 slot machines, 40 table games, a 200-room hotel, restaurants, an entertainment lounge, retail space and meeting rooms. The long-awaited, long-contested off-reservation casino is set to break ground by the end of June.
The Madera casino site is located on Avenue 17 just west of the intersection with State Route 99. This is a 305-acre site between Madera and Chowchilla and within the Tribe’s ancestral lands.
Red Rock Resorts, the Las Vegas gaming firm and hotelier has confirmed that construction on the North Fork Indian tribe’s casino project was finally set to commence after a considerable legal battle contesting the tribe’s ability to construct a casino beyond the confines of its reservation.
Initially proposed by the tribe in 2003, it received critical support in the from former California Gov. Jerry Brown in 2011 and the California State Legislature ratified a gaming compact with the tribe. In 2014, voters rejected the gaming compact with the tribe via Proposition 48. Following the electoral defeat of the agreement, Brown said that further negotiations “would be futile.”
The claim sparked a cacophony of legal challenges, starting with the North Fork tribe alleging that Brown and the State of California were not negotiating in good faith. U.S. District Court Judge Anthony Ishii ruled in favour of the tribe and ordered the state reach a new compact.
North Fork and Red Rock first struck a development agreement in 2016, with the Nevada gaming firm set to develop and, eventually, manage the casino. Red Rock has estimated the cost of construction at between US$350 and US$400 million.
Red Rock Sale of Palms Casino Resort
Early in the month, Red Rock announced a definitive agreement between its subsidiary Station Casinos LLC to sell the Palms Casinos Resort in Las Vegas for US$650 million in cash to a subsidiary of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
