If a balky Legislature and the secretary of the Interior eventually approve a proposed gaming compact for an East Bay casino, the 259-member Lytton Band of Pomo Indians stands to become very rich -- as do their investors.
The tribe's proposed 2,500-slot machine Casino San Pablo would be developed by California Indian Gaming Development and managed by California Indian Gaming Management.
Both limited liability companies are registered to the same Phoenix law firm's address and have the same four principals -- the Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians, the Pala Band of Mission Indians, Jerome H. Turk and the Maloof Cos.
The partnership will get a percentage of net revenue, which sources have said hasn't been set yet but is usually between 20 and 25 percent, over the casino's first seven years of operation.
If this compact is approved, the casino could rake in at least $250 million per year.
The Rumsey Band operates what's now the major Indian casino closest to the Bay Area, Cache Creek in Yolo County. The recently expanded and renovated complex has 66,000 square feet of casino space with 1,762 slot machines and more than 120 table games, as well as a 200-room luxury hotel and health spa, eight restaurants and a 20,000- square-foot event center.The Rumsey Band at first wasn't all that thrilled about the Casino San Pablo plan, as the Bay Area is its core market; getting a piece of the action in San Pablo helped assuage that concern.
The Pala Band of Mission Indians operates the Pala Casino Resort in northern San Diego County, a 650,000-square-foot complex boasting 2,000 slot machines, 77 table games, 507 hotel rooms, eight restaurants, a 30,000-square-foot events center, a 2,000-seat outdoor theater and a 10,000-square-foot spa.
Jerome Turk manages the Pala Casino Resort for the tribe. He's been in the gaming business full time since 1988, when he moved to Nevada to help build a gaming company that later merged with Fitzgeralds Gaming Corp. He had been chairman and CEO of two of Fitzgeralds' predecessor companies but retired from the company in 1996 and later sold all his holdings in it.
