NorCal tribal casinos insist they’re a safe bet
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.
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.
“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.
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.”