Newest Indian Casino In Northern California
- Newest Indian Casino In Northern California For Weddings
- Newest Indian Casino In Northern California Right Now
- New Indian Casino In Northern California
- Newest Indian Casino In Northern California San Francisco
The announcement came with great fanfare – and caution: Cache Creek Casino Resort in the Yolo County town of Brooks was open for business.
Months earlier, in March, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and tribes across California closed their gaming floors as part of an unprecedented statewide shutdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus. It was the first time the casino resort closed in more than 30 years. Cache Creek was the first casino in Northern California to close, casino officials noted, ahead of California and Yolo County’s health mandates.
- Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sacramento at Fire Mountain. Get ready to rock at the brand-new Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sacramento at Fire Mountain. Located just north of Sacramento, the Hard Rock brand’s amped-up style, service, and signature hospitality have a new home in Northern California.
- Voted Best Local Casino in Central California. Located in Friant, CA, just north of Fresno, we offer gaming, bingo, dining, and live entertainment!
On June 8, Cache Creek – one of the last casinos in Northern California to reopen – promised a “new normal” to fit life with the virus: fewer people, fewer games and physical distancing on the floor; thermal scans and sanitization protocols. Casino standbys like poker, valet service and buffets were off the menu, at least temporarily.
In the western American state of California and the $600 million plan from the Tejon Indian Tribe to bring a new casino resort to Kern County has reportedly received a large amount of public support.
“While we cannot stress enough how much we have missed our guests and employees, this will be a new normal for all of us,” Cache Creek general manager Kari Stout-Smith said in a release ahead of the reopening.
The same day in Placer County, Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln reopened, stressing similar precautionary protocols and assuring returning guests that United Auburn Indian Community officials had carefully considered Gov. Gavin Newsom’s request to pause casino openings.
Today California is the new epicenter of the nation’s rampaging coronavirus crisis. Cases have exploded to nearly 525,000, the state’s COVID-19 death toll has surpassed 9,700, and Yolo and Placer are among those on the state’s watchlist of counties where COVID-19 cases have gotten worse.
But the casinos remain open and are greeting guests.
Gaming tribes voluntarily closed the casino doors in March in response to the pandemic but the governor cannot bar tribes from reopening because of the sovereign nation status of tribal lands. Ben Deci, a Yocha Dehe spokesman, told The Sacramento Bee in May that Cache Creek’s June restart was coordinated in concert with Newsom’s office.
Newest Indian Casino In Northern California For Weddings
Red Hawk Casino and Jackson Rancheria joined Cache Creek with their own June 8 reopenings featuring reconfigured gaming floors and strict safety protocols. Hard Rock Hotel & Casino near Wheatland in Yuba County opened even earlier, on May 21.
Spokesmen for the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and United Auburn Indian Community declined comment or did not answer The Bee’s interview requests, but James Siva, chairman of the California Indian Gaming Association, said in a July statement that the state’s tribal governments were “closely monitoring case surges in their respective communities” and were “working closely with the state and federal governments to ensure the safety of our tribal communities, including our economic operations.”
Closures caused a financial beating
The losses caused by the statewide spring shutdown were a likely a key factor in tribes’ push to reopen. Gaming revenues – $8 billion annually and the sole source of income for many California tribes – took a beating during California’s mandatory lockdown, casino industry executives told The Bee in May.
Yolo County spokeswoman Jenny Tan also said the Yocha Dehe and Yolo County are “communicating with each other,” as well as with Yolo cities and school districts in monitoring the virus.
But the Yolo and Placer casinos have drawn attention for the positive cases at the sites in early July and the criticism leveled at Thunder Valley in July by former employees who said they weren’t properly protected from the virus while on the job after the casino reopened.
Cache Creek committed to mandatory ongoing COVID-19 testing of its approximately 2,300 employees July 3 after an undisclosed number of workers tested positive.
In a statement at the time announcing the testing regime, Cache Creek officials said they would continue to work with Yolo County Health and Human Services and contact trace.
“Like other employers, we recognize the challenges of keeping a staff of approximately 2,300 people healthy during a pandemic. We expected increased testing could reveal COVID-19 cases that might otherwise go undetected; that’s precisely why we do it.”
But that hasn’t satisfied the California Gaming Association, the trade group representing card rooms across the state, which sent a letter to Newsom in July that called on him to temporarily close all gaming operations in counties under shutdown orders.
California’s card rooms – a $5 billion industry, says the gaming association – remain closed by the governor’s order, while sovereign nations’ gaming operations remain open.
Newest Indian Casino In Northern California Right Now
“We believe you have the authority to order ALL casino operations, including tribal casinos, to cease operations in the affected counties,” the July letter read, citing tribal compact language that tribes not conduct gaming in a manner that endangers public health.
Newsom press secretary Jesse Melgar in a statement Tuesday said the governor’s office is talking with the sovereign gaming tribes to determine what steps will be needed to limit the spread of COVID-19 on tribal lands.
“The administration is currently engaged in government-to-government consultation with tribal enterprises located within listed areas of concern to determine the appropriate measures to take moving forward to limit the transmission of COVID-19 on tribal lands,” Melgar said in an email.
The statement came the same day Newsom signed gaming compacts between the state and six Northern California tribes including the Ione Band of Miwok Indians and the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, which operates Red Hawk Casino in Placerville.
Doctor suggests casinos can give the virus ‘superpowers’
Governor’s officials in announcing the new pacts Tuesday noted the agreements’ commitment to promoting tribal economic development, self-sufficiency, revenue sharing with non-gaming tribes and quality of life while “affording meaningful patron and employee protections; and mitigating the off-reservation impacts of the gaming facility.”
But Dr. Peter Chin-Hong is deeply concerned. An infectious disease specialist at University of California, San Francisco, he says the gaming floor is an ideal environment to spread the virus, calling casinos an “extremely high risk.”
And, because casinos are a regional as well as local attraction, groups can carry the virus to homes and communities far from the gaming floor.
“It’s totally high risk. They are attractions. They draw people from a wide area. It’s not like going to a local restaurant,” Chin-Hong said. “This is a social, emotional environment.”
Chin-Hong said other factors are at play: how long players are inside the casino; air quality; whether smoking is allowed; and surfaces that he said can “become a Caltrain or BART” to transmit the disease.
Droplets from someone infected to someone who isn’t typically travel 3 feet. That’s why social distancing is important to curbing the virus.
In a highly charged casino setting, he explained, the odds are riskier and those same virus carrying droplets can travel many feet farther, attaining what Chin-Hong calls “superpowers.”
“You can make them fly when you shout or yelp for joy,” he said. “The last I checked, all these things happen in a casino setting.”
———
©2020 The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.)
Visit The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.) at www.sacbee.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
California is a state with a mixed gambling history. These days, it technically allows all types of gambling in one form or another. However, the specifics of where and how you can enjoy these activities are heavily dependent on location and regulations. For instance, casino games are only legal at Indian casinos rather than resorts on state land.
Below we will break down the types of gambling you can enjoy in Northern California.
Northern California Indian Casinos
Tribal casinos are currently legal in California thanks to laws between the state and federal government and the Indian tribes who maintain various territorial pockets throughout the state. At the time of writing, 63 tribal casinos operate in California. Combined, they produce over $8 billion in revenue every year.
Legality And Revenue
Indian casinos do not follow the same gambling regulations that other gambling sites do within the state. Because of this, resort-goers can find most major gambling activities within these resorts, including blackjack, poker, electronic games, slot machines, lottery games, bingo, and more. Gambling activities are either regulated by the National Indian Gaming Commission or state authorities.
Because tribal casinos drawing so much revenue, casinos often feature distinct themes or special attractions or resorts. Northern California Indian casinos are largely positioned around Sacramento or the Bay Area, although a few stretch a little farther north. Most of these resorts may have themes revolving around wine country or the NorCal wilderness and mountains.
Be advised that you need to be 21-years-old to enter most of the top Northern California tribal casinos. This is despite the fact that the legal gambling age is 18-years-old. Many casinos require you to be 21-years-old since they serve alcohol on their premises.
Northern California tribal casinos don’t currently allow sports betting, but may bring in brick-and-mortar sports betting over the next few years.
New Indian Casino In Northern California
Where To Play
Some of the best Northern California tribal casinos include:
Newest Indian Casino In Northern California San Francisco
Thunder Valley Casino Resort
This casino is just outside Sacramento and is one of the largest resorts in the entire state, featuring over 145,000 ft.². It offers 2,000 slot machines and over 100 gaming tables plus options for bingo and live poker. It’s 17-story tower hotel contains 297 rooms as well as a fine selection of excellent restaurants and other amenities. The casino is open 24 hours daily.
Table Mountain Casino
This casino is located north of Fresno. It’s actually due for a renovation, as it was built in 1987. It’s going to be replaced by a larger casino and hotel over the next few years. At the moment, it offers over 2,000 gaming machines, 10 poker tables, and a plethora of other table game opportunities.
Tachi Palace Casino Resort
This resort draws customers from all across the state, thanks to its expansive space and 45,000 square-foot concert venue. As a result, it’s a frequent location for entertainment tours and activities beyond regular gambling experiences. It also offers over 2,000 slot machines and a seven-table poker room. Other features include a 255-room hotel and spa along with nine restaurants for a variety of dining opportunities.
Northern California Card Rooms
California offers some of the best card rooms in the entire country. California card rooms are legal because they have players bet against one another instead of the house. The card rooms themselves make their profit by charging players small fees to enter games. Dealers rotate with every hand.
Games Available
Most California card rooms include staple poker varieties like Texas Hold’Em and Seven-Card Stud, although you can also find additional games depending on the location. Additionally, most California card rooms offer “Cal Games”, which are card games with rules tweaked to ensure their legality under California legislation. Cal Games include Blackjack, Pai Gow, Chinese Poker, and more.
Many of the best California card rooms also offer tons of poker tournaments for both beginners and experts. This draws plenty of traffic, especially at more popular card rooms. Tournament buy-ins and pools can range from the tens of dollars up to the hundreds or thousands of dollars.
All players need to be 18-years-old to legally gamble in a California card room.
Where To Play
There are 66 card rooms currently operating in California. Here are some of the best you can find in Northern California:
Bay 101
Bay 101 is located at the south end of the San Francisco Bay in San Jose, CA. They’re a great choice thanks to their proximity to the San Jose airport, making them a prime stopover destination for travelers who get a poker itch. They offer a variety of poker games and tournaments, and frequently draw experienced crowds to offer moderate to high-skill poker action.
California Grand Casino
This casino is actually the oldest continually operating poker room in the world, as it’s been offering poker since 1854. It served as stagecoach and Pony Express stop before becoming an explicit casino. Weekly tournaments and Cal Games are included, like blackjack, pai gow, and three-card poker for even more variety. The casino was moved into a new and modern building in 2009, so it offers fresh amenities and plenty of creature comforts.
Capitol Casino
This casino is a relatively simplistic entertainment venue without a lot of bells and whistles, but they offer plenty of excellent poker action. They also offer excellent restaurant and bar options, so it’s a good place for general entertainment and enjoyment. They draw crowds from all over the Sacramento area and offer daily and weekly tournaments.
Northern California Race Tracks
Horse racing is one of the few types of wagering fully legal in California at in-person locations and online horse racing apps. Horse racing was legalized in 1933 using a pari-mutuel model. In short, this meant that bettors wager against each other while the horse track facilities take a small cut of the overall pool in order to make a profit.
Most Northern and Southern California horse racing tracks emphasize thoroughbred races, although you can find Quarter Horse races at a few select tracks. There used to be many more tracks in general, but the overall decline in attendance and several other factors have resulted in only a few major California horse tracks remaining open today.
Those who enjoy horse racing can make straight and exotic bets depending on a track’s offerings. You’ll also be able to find 27 satellite locations that offer off-track horse race betting if you don’t want to use a mobile app. There’s only one really excellent Northern California horse racing track compared to the three you can find in the southern half of the state:
Golden Gate Fields Race Track
This 140-acre horse racing track is located in Berkeley, right next to the San Francisco Bay. As a result, attendees benefit from expansive views of the local Bay Area and generally pleasant weather all year round. It’s also the only major thoroughbred racetrack in Northern California.
Golden Gate Fields features a one-mile synthetic track and a turf course that measures 9/10 of a mile. It can fit thousands of customers and features on-site parking for visitor convenience. Horse racing enthusiasts will enjoy several graded events that are held every year, including the Berkeley Handicap, San Francisco Mile Stakes, and California Derby.
Admission is always free for children. There are plenty of comfortable facilities for both regular attendees and for those who are part of various clubs. Guests are even able to meet jockeys and see horses at the paddocks. The location is convenient since there are tons of hotels and dining options fairly nearby.
Northern California Gambling FAQ
As with Southern California, it depends on the activity in question. Gambling in general is legal only for those 18-years-old or older. However, you have to be 21-years-old to enter some Indian casinos because of alcohol restrictions.
This is largely because of the higher concentration of large metropolitan areas in the southern half of the state. Big cities like Los Angeles and San Diego have naturally drawn more gambling locations over time.
No. State authorities and the National Indian Gaming Commission are responsible for regulating all gambling institutions in California. They hold all institutions to the same standards.
No. Sports betting is technically illegal. However, new legislation may allow Indian casinos to bring brick-and-mortar sports betting to their casinos.
For the purpose of this article, we define Northern California as anything north of Fresno. Big metropolitan areas in Northern California include the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento.