Elk Grove's Sky River Casino has surprise midnight opening
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If opening two months early wasn't surprise enough, the Sky River Casino went with a surprise midnight opening.
ELK GROVE, Calif. — The Sky River Casino opened around midnight Tuesday as a surprise opening. The casino posted on social media and within half an hour 600 people started streaming through the doors.
The casino was originally set to open at the end of October but in July, they announced they were pushing for a September date and now they are open 24/7.
There were originally three sites to choose from, but the location won out for its close proximity to CA-99 and the blueprint for having a lot of traffic was already in place from the mall. Chris Gibase, president and chief operating officer of Sky River Casino, said if everything goes well this could potentially be the first phase of opening with much more to come.
“We have 2,000 slot machines, 80 table games and 17 bars and restaurants. But it’s on a 100-acre site so we can expect hotels, entertainment facility, spas pools, pretty much everything you would see in a Las Vegas strip casino you’re going to see here,” said Gibase.
Gibase said the reason the first opening is on a smaller scale without the amenities is that construction was during the pandemic.
They sized down to just the games and food. The casino estimates this will bring in about 2,000 jobs both full and part-time for residents.
The casino is also trying to keep its local ties. The president told ABC10 back in July that the goal is to source 75-80% of their product within 150 miles of the casino.
They have 65 local wines available and two of the restaurants are also locally owned in the region. Gibase said there was a lot of advance planning on this project so they were able to avoid supply chain issues.
