Now Two Tribes Vie to Build Casino in Barstow

For a community that is chiefly known for being in the desert astride the interstate on the way to Las Vegas, Barstow is suddenly in demand for a possible casino.

For several years the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeño, a San Diego tribe more than 100 miles away, has been petitioning the federal government to allow it to build a $160 million off-reservation casino which it has dubbed the Barstow Casino and Resort. So far without result—aside from an environmental impact report issued in April.

Now another tribe, the Chemehuevi Tribe plans to submit a trust application to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for a 40-acre site in Barstow.

According to its chairman, Charles Wood, “We are one of only three federally recognized tribes who have ancestral, historical ties to Barstow and the larger Barstow area.” Like the Los Coyotes Band, the Chemehuevi would need for the BIA to make a “two-part determination,” since it would be seeking to put land off the reservation into trust. The Chemehuevi question the San Diego tribe’s connection to the area.

The Chemehuevi already operate the Havasu Landing Resort and Casino in Lake Havasu, nearly 200 miles from Barstow. It proposes a five-story hotel, a gas station, water park, market and campground.

Wood appeared before a group of Barstow business people and community leaders recently to urge them to double their odds of getting a casino by supporting both.

“We believe two casinos will work,” he said, according to the Desert Dispatch. “Competition makes you better. Two casinos would work with the amount of traffic that goes through Barstow.”

Wood emphasized that the two tribes are not adversaries. “We go to all the conventions in the state. We talk to each other every time. We bum cigarettes from each other,” he said. “The Los Coyotes are honest, hard-working people. There is no animosity between the two tribes.”

After Wood’s talk, the city manager, Curt Mitchell, updated the group on the Los Coyotes project. “We are awaiting to get approval on the project,” he said. “We believe very strongly in our model for a two-part determination. However, it’s not our decision.”

Part of the two-part determination, which also requires the assent of the governor, is that putting the land into trust would benefit the tribe AND to the surrounding community.

In the EIR the BIA projected that the casino would attract $160 million in investments and generate $126 million annually. It would also create 1,000 construction jobs and over 1,000 permanent ones.