The $1.2 billion casino that the landless Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians and its Upstream development partners fought to build along the shores of San Francisco Bay was killed last month by the Richmond City Council, two of whose members were elected on an anti-casino platform last November.

The council held a five-hour meeting before a packed audience of about 150 people before putting the final nail in the coffin of the Point Molate casino project, although they left the door open for a non-casino project by the developer. They cited various problems with the project, including that neither the federal government nor the state had endorsed it. Their main point was that the voters spoke in an advisory vote in November on whether the casino should be built at that location. Point Molate is a former winery and Navy fuel depot, one of the last remaining extensive undeveloped pieces of property on the bay. Voters rejected Measure U with a 58 percent vote, something the council was reminded by a banner that was hung in the meeting hall that read: “Richmond Voted No Casino.”

The final vote by the council was 5-2 against the casino project.

By GGB Staff

Staff writers for Global Gaming Business magazine. Las Vegas, Nevada.