from the Porterville Recorder
July 7,2022-
Eagle Mountain Casino has set the first week of December for its opening of its new, relocated casino near the Porterville Municipal Airport.
Eagle Mountain Casino Matthew Mingrone said last week on the Ralph Bailey Show which aires on KERN Radio, 1180AM-96.1 FM about the casino “we are going” to open the first week of December. Mingrone was on the show to also announce Eagle Mountain was donating $5,000 to the Honor Flight Program which provides veterans a chance to visit Washington, D.C.
Eagle Mountain has partnered with Bailey every year in his Honor Flight fundraising campaign. This year Bailey is seeking to raise $60,000 for the Honor Flight program. Over the years, Eagle Mountain has donated more than $300,000 to the Honor Flight Kern County and Central Valley Honor Flight programs.
In talking about the new casino, Mingrone said the casino was also preparing for the likely eventuality that sports betting will become legal in California. “The casino is preparing for any outcome of the November election,” Mingrone told Bailey. “We want to have as many amenities that we can offer our guests, no matter what it might be.”
“We’re making the plan,” added Mingrone about offering sports betting.
There are two initiatives that would legalize sports betting for the state’s voters to consider on the November ballot and will determined just how much control the Native American tribes have over sports betting
The initiative supported by Native American tribes would only allow in-person sports betting at tribal casinos and horse racing tracks on tribal land. A 10 percent tax from this measure would go to pay for enforcement of gambling laws and to help people who are addicted to gambling.
Online sports betting wouldn’t be allowed and major sports betting companies like DraftKings and FanDuel would be blocked by the measure.
But major sports betting companies like DraftKings and FanDuel crave the large California market and have been able to place another measure that would not only allow sports betting at tribal casinos but on phones as well.
A tax would pay for the regulatory costs for phone usage. After that, 85 percent of tax revenue would go to combatting homelessness.
If both of the initiatives pass in November, the one that receives the most votes would go into effect.
As far as what the new casino will offer, the casino will for the first time serve alcohol. The casino will have a sports bar with 24 different kinds of beers and the casino will have a large center bar that will serve alcohol as well.
In addition the casino will have a digital hybrid version of craps. The casino will have a 2,000-seat event center as well. There is not currently a place locally that can hold as many guest as the new casino will be able to.
The casino will have more than 1,750 slot machines and 20 tables and will incorporate the Tule River Tribe’s culture throughout the casino.
Mingrone also told Bailey stages II and III, the construction of a hotel and convention center, is set for 2023-2024.