Hollister
– A group of investors based in Santa Clara County – which
recently formed two companies called Game Won and Game Too – are
financially backing an attempt by a band of Miwok Indians to build
a casino off Highway 25 in San Benito County.
Hollister – A group of investors based in Santa Clara County – which recently formed two companies called Game Won and Game Too – are financially backing an attempt by a band of Miwok Indians to build a casino off Highway 25 in San Benito County.
The group’s attorney, Phillip Thompson, confirmed the name of the investment groups interested in spending up to $300 million on a casino resort near Hollister. Game Won registered with the Secretary of State’s Office as a limited liability corporation March 24, and Game Too registered April 23.
The group includes Sal Rubino, the former co-owner of San Jose-based Valley View Packing Co. and Gilroy businessmen Pat Ansuini and Joseph Giacalone. It’s not clear who else is among the investors, but Thompson confirmed Rubino’s involvement and the two Gilroy men confirmed their roles Friday.
Giacalone, who owned Giacalone Electrical Services in Gilroy until he sold it about four years ago, called the casino “a very touchy issue,” but he and Ansuini said they see benefits for the local community.
“I’m merely one of a group of upstanding people who have nothing in mind but the betterment of (the area),” Giacalone said.
He said a casino would “great” for the area. For instance, he said investors are willing to help pay for a more prompt widening of Highway 25, which Caltrans currently expects to be done in about seven years.
“How many times on a Friday night have you seen the traffic back up on Highway 25 all the way to 101?” he asked. “How long do you think it’s going to take the state or the county to widen that road?”
Ansuini said the news about the project broke about a week or two before planned, but added “I’ve got nothing to hide,” and that he only wants to benefit the local communities.
Investors have hooked up with a band of Miwok Indians, who are trying to buy land near the border of San Benito and Santa Clara counties. The businessmen and their attorneys recently met with supervisors from both counties to seek support for a casino, which the group believes could be built within two years. Thompson says the casino would be similar in size to the Cache Creek Casino in Yolo County, which is a 66,000 square foot facility with 1,762 slot machines and 120 table games.
This is not the first time officials have been approached about a casino in the area. About a year ago, Morgan Hill Mayor Dennis Kennedy met three or four businessmen who wanted to build an Indian casino between San Martin and Morgan Hill, Kennedy said Friday.
One of those people was representing an Indian tribe, Kennedy said, though he couldn’t remember which tribe. He also refused to name the people he met with, but a source familiar with that proposal, who requested anonymity, said Ansuini was involved.
Before building in San Benito County, the Miwoks would have to gain approval from the governor and the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Thompson, a legal expert on gaming law, said the group won’t move forward without support from the San Benito County board of supervisors, though it is not a requirement.
Thompson has not disclosed what band of Miwok Indians – a tribe that operates at least three other casinos in California – is seeking local property. There are “seven or eight” different bands in the Miwok tribe, he said. Other Miwok-operated casinos are located in Amador, Sonoma and Tuolomne counties. However, he said that this would be the first casino for the band he represents.
The Miwok tribe as a whole, though, isn’t new to controversy. Earlier this year, membership in the Ione band of Miwoks ballooned from 70 to 535, according to Gary Garrison, a press spokesman for the BIA.
The Department of the Interior has been investigating how the BIA opened enrollment for new members to join the Ione band, after which some BIA employees and their family members came aboard, according to a CNN report.
Garrison emphasized, however, that all the bands of Miwok Indians are “totally different groups.” Thompson said there are no former BIA employees in the band of Miwoks trying to build a casino here.
“And we’re trying to keep it that way,” said Thompson, who acknowledged being a former BIA attorney.
The Tuolomne Miwoks opened the Black Oak Casino in the Sierra foothills two years ago. From the time of its proposal, that casino project took two years to finish, according to Mike Laird, a Tuolomne County planner.
“They really get after it,” Laird said of the tribe.
So far, the Tuolomne casino’s business has been so successful that it’s now planning to build a 165,000 square foot entertainment venue, he said. The casino near Hollister likely would be 50,000 to 100,000 square feet, according to Thompson.
Concerns that arose before and during the Tuolomne casino’s construction included issues related to traffic, impacts to local fire protection and gambling addiction.
Thompson realizes there would be similar opposition here. Sheriff Curtis Hill has already slammed the idea, saying it would lead to higher crime rates and environmental pollution. The Miwoks and their investors want to hear residents’ concerns, Thompson said, and plan to hold public hearings some time in October or November.
While Kennedy told the group that approached him a year ago that he did not think a casino was appropriate for the Morgan Hill area – anticipating residents would have concerns about traffic and police coverage – he said he liked some of the things it had planned to do to make their project “beneficial to the community.”
Kennedy said the group would have provided funding to expand medical services at the DePaul Health Center in Morgan Hill, something Kennedy has pushed for strongly in the past. DePaul, which houses doctors’ offices now, is the former Saint Louise Hospital.
If this were to happen, Kennedy said it would be in consultation with officials at the current Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, since “We don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past by having two hospitals.” No one has contacted Saint Louise yet, spokeswoman Vivian Smith said.
“I think what (the casino investors) want to do is make sure that they’re a good neighbor for the entire region where they’re located,” Kennedy said.
As for the Highway 25 site, Kennedy said, “I’d have to know more about what they’re proposing before making a judgment.”
Bill Lindsteadt, executive director of the Gilroy Economic Development Corp., said a casino “could have a positive economic impact.”
“It’d be one more destination that could be promoted by the Visitors Bureau to bring overnight visitors to Gilroy,” Lindsteadt said.
Kollin Kosmicki is a Free Lance staff writer. E-mail him at [email protected] or call (831) 637-5566, ext. 331.
