Sky River Casino holds job fair in Elk Grove
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Job seekers gathered at the future Sky River Casino’s job fair that was held on May 23 at Laguna Town Hall.
The $500 million casino project, which is owned by the 900-member Wilton Rancheria tribe and operated by Boyd Gaming, is scheduled to open this fall.
It is located near Kammerer Road and Highway 99 on the former site of the “Ghost Mall” – Elk Grove’s longtime partially built outlet mall, which was demolished in 2019, after 11 years of construction inactivity.
Once completed, Sky River Casino will offer 2,000 slot machines, more than 80 gaming tables and 12 distinct dining options.
The Wilton Rancheria is currently seeking to hire nearly 2,000 employees for its casino, which will become Sacramento County’s first tribal casino.
Carrie Gordon, vice president of marketing for Sky River Casino, told the Citizen that 430 people attended the event at the Laguna Town Hall on May 23, and that its success led to the decision to extend the event to the following day at the same location. An earlier job fair for the casino was held in Rocklin on May 9.
Gordon spoke about the approach to the Elk Grove job fair.
“The goal here is to make sure that we are offering ample (opportunities) to all of the talented people who live and work in the community,” she said.
She added that this job fair took a “one-stop shop” approach.
“This is not a place where you come and drop off a resume and we say, ‘thank you,’ and it goes from there,” she said. “There are registered appointments, we’re taking walk-ins. If you’re here for table games, we’re actually letting you deal and audition, and then interview.” Following interviews, applicants were able to go through a drug screening process and go through a licensing process, if it was required.
“So, someone who is coming down here and taking the time to spend time with us today is able to take care of everything,” Gordon said. “And you’re not just meeting with anybody. We have executive leadership talking to candidates.”
Bernadette Lacsina, table games operational trainer for Sky River Casino, spoke about the hands-on auditions for card dealers.
“Pretty much whatever casino that they worked at, (they could show) their level of experience, and if they qualify for the position, this is definitely a good opportunity for them, especially for people who are Elk Grove residents,” she said.
Lacsina mentioned that Sky River plans to hire about 400 employees to operate their table games.
As a job fair that had time sensitivity, with the soon-to-be-opened casino, 205 attendees were offered jobs on the same day they attended the first day of this event.
“If they are extended a job offer today, they’re leaving here with an offer in hand,” Gordon said.
Gordon told the Citizen that the Wilton Rancheria is seeking to fill jobs for such positions as table game operators, cooks, warehouse workers, and accounting, marketing and human resources department employees.
“There’s not a single department that’s not offered here,” she said. “We have manager-level positions down to line-level, hourly positions. So, there’s no position we’re not hiring for today. We are offering hourly and salary range jobs. We are offering very competitive wages, and we even have a full explanation of the benefits we’re offering.”
Gordon noted that those who missed their opportunity to attend the job fair will still have an opportunity to apply for positions through the website, www.SkyRiver.com.
While waiting to speak to a Sky River Casino representative at the job fair, attendees had the opportunity to view renderings and the logo of the casino, view videos of interviews and commentaries by tribal officials and Boyd Gaming officials, as well as commercials promoting the casino. Sky River will be operated by the Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming Corp.
The Citizen met with several applicants who received offers to work at the casino.
Yeun Lu shared her excitement for receiving one of those offers.
“I get the opportunity to help Sky River open their new casino,” she said. “I am a table games dealer. (Sky River) is closer to home. I currently work at Red Hawk Casino. It’s about 45 minutes away. I’m planning on being here a while; hopefully be a supervisor.”
Sacramento resident Charlie Chhun, who currently works at Cache Creek Casino, plans to cut down on his commute by working at Sky River.
“I’m really happy to work for (Sky River),” he said. “I’m so happy, too, when you open (a casino), you create more jobs for people in the community, so people have jobs. Hopefully they (allow) me to work for a while, because it’s close to my house.”
Chhun added that he would be spending $5,000 per year on gas for his car, if he continued working at Cache Creek.
Jay Torres told the Citizen that she received offers for two different jobs.
“I’ve worked at certain casino establishments before and so I’m seeing that this is a great opportunity,” she said. “It’s close to the (Highway 99) freeway. You don’t have to drive all the way up into the mountains like I did at some other locations that I worked. So, yeah, I find that it’s real convenient. The drive is like 22 minutes from where I live (in Lockeford).”
Sacramento resident Nhia Koua Vang, a table games dealer who had not received a job offer from Sky River, mentioned that he remains hopeful to work at this new casino.
“If I do get hired, I would give them 110%,” he said. “I have experience to work hard enough to get where I need to be.”
