Site in Barstow, California, where Los Coyotes Band
of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians wants to build an off-reservation casino. Photo from Barstow Casino and Resort
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The Los Coyotes
Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians will be in Washington, D.C., to discuss its off-reservation casino in Barstow, California.
The tribe is meeting with the Interior Department today and tomorrow, The Desert Dispatch reported. Officials from the city of Barstow will be there as well, the paper said.
The proposed $160 million Barstow Casino and Resort would include a 57,000 square-foot casino with 1,325 slot machines and 57 table games. Plans also call for a 100-room hotel, conference/meeting room space and dining and entertainment options.
Barstow is more than 100 miles from the reservation. The Bush administration rejected an earlier version of the project in January 2008, saying the location was too far to benefit the tribe.
The Obama administration restarted the process and the Bureau of Indian Affairs prepared a new environmental impact
statement for the project. But there hasn't been much movement since the draft document was released in
July 2011.
The tribe is pursuing the casino under the two-part determination
provisions of the Indian
Gaming Regulatory Act. The governor's approval will be required.
Get the Story:
City officials to pitch project in Washington
(The Desert Dispatch 3/8)
Related Stories:
Two California
tribes still pursuing off-reservation casino bids (08/15)
Los Coyotes Band
still working on off-reservation gaming plans (07/09)