Getting the Casino Rolling
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It’s a few days before Christmas at the Sacramento region’snewest gaming resort, but inside, it feels like its own world.
The resort is Sky River Casino, which opened Aug. 16 just offGrant Line Road near Elk Grove. The smell of cigarette smoke inthe air is just one reminder that this is sovereign tribal landfor Wilton Rancheria — and therefore not subject to Californiastate laws that ban smoking inside enclosed businesses. Thecasino could fit a small town, with a maximum occupancy of 11,000people.
“It looks absolutely beautiful, it’s stunning,” Elk Grove BobbieSingh-Allen says by phone. “As soon as you walk in, you literallyfeel transported somewhere else. It’s like, ‘I’m not in Elk Groveanymore.’”
After several years of work by Wilton Rancheria, the tribe’scasino operator Boyd Gaming, and local leaders, Sky River isfinally up and running. And everyone associated with the projectseems pleased with how the resort is going so far.
It was a long road to this point for Wilton Rancheria Chair JesusTarango, whose tribe worked on the project for several years. “Ithink it’s more than what we thought it would be,” Tarango says,as he stands near the entrance inside Sky River. “You know,seeing the renderings back in 2016, 2017 and then to be here now,the renderings that I have in my house are the same as what yousee here.”
Walking around Sky River’s 103,000-square-foot gaming floor, SkyRiver Casino President and Chief Operating Officer Chris Gibaseof Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming points out different features thatmake the design unique.
The chandeliers have acorns and oak trees, while large cracksbuilt into the ceiling evoke rivers. All are meant as a tributeto the Miwok and Nisenan tribes that Wilton Rancheria memberstrace their ancestry to. There are also boulders within thecasino that come from historic tribal land. There are plenty ofcustomers sitting at machines and gaming tables on a recentWednesday afternoon and while Gibase can’t give exact figures,business seems to be going well.
“I’ve never been in the red since the first 15 minutes,” Gibasesays. “This property is busy. And we give a great product for afair price.”
There are currently 2,064 gaming machines and 80 gaming tablesoperating within the casino according to Gibase, with WiltonRancheria’s gaming compact with the state allowing it to operateas many as 2,500 gaming devices and two facilities.
A food market within the resort features 17 bars and restaurants.The resort also hosts live music on Wednesdays. “The sweet spothere is country and classic rock,” Gibase says. “That’s whatpeople seem to gravitate to the most.”
Economically, the adjacent city of Elk Grove has much wrapped upin what happens with the resort, which was built on the site ofthe city’s ill-fated “ghost mall.” The never-completed Lent RanchMall was demolished in 2019 before Sky River broke ground in 2021. Theresort operates near a still-growing part of Elk Grove, and it’snot the only major amenity that could be in the area within a fewyears. Singh-Allen notes while on the tour of Sky River that theSacramento Zoo could relocate to within a mile of here.
Gibase told Comstock’s in an interview in late September that thetribe puts out approximately $20 million between the city, countyand state in payments for various services and infrastructure.“This serves as an economic engine not only for the tribe but forthe general community,” Gibase said at the time.
Elk Grove Economic Development Director Darrell Doan says his jobrevolves around attracting employers to Elk Grove to createeconomic activity and community wealth and that “from thatstandpoint, the Sky River Casino is a major win for thecommunity. They employ just shy of 2,000 people. Approximately 40percent of those are Elk Grove residents. So it’s a huge regionalemployer.”
The resort is on sovereign land, so it contracts with Elk GrovePolice Department to provide officers for extra security. Sgt.Jason Jimenez, a department spokesman, says that while there havebeen arrests associated with the casino, including for publicdrunkenness, Sky River hasn’t posed any significant safety risks.
Some traffic-related problems arose with Sky River’s opening, andJimenez says Elk Grove PD had staff on-site monitoring thesituation. “That was quickly remedied and that traffic issue wasresolved and we’ve not had any issues since,” Jimenez says.
Gibase says that the initial crowds and traffic were the biggestissue Sky River has had, though the resort has since opened moreparking.
In time, there could be more offerings at the resort, with asecond phase currently in planning with city staff and WiltonRancheria and Boyd Gaming having 100 acres between them. InSeptember, Gibase told Comstock’s that “what I would expect tosee here is a major hotel, entertainment complex. Pools, spas,pretty much everything you see if you went to … the strip in LasVegas. I would expect that to be here in the next couple ofyears.”
That also might be the point where Wilton Rancheria members willhave started to see some money from Sky River.
“The tribe really won’t see any benefits probably for anotheryear,” Tarango says. “But it’s good that we have this here. And Ithink it’s good for our community as well.”
