The new Agua Caliente Casino Cathedral City is aiming to open this fall. Based on reports, it will have no shortage of attractions for patrons.
The new property will be the third casino operated by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. Its other properties are in Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage, and the new location will be less than 10 miles from its sister casinos.
The 30,000-square-foot casino will have three bars, 536 slot machines and eight table games, and that’s just the beginning.
What Cathedral City will offer
We don’t yet know how much the project will cost, but by all accounts, the casino will have plenty of bells and whistles.
Cathedral City will steal the popular “360 Sports” concept from its sister casino in Rancho Mirage. A massive screen will be located in a spot that is visible from various points of the space, which officials say is ideal for watching sports.
“If the Super Bowl was on, for example, you could see it clear as day,” Cathedral City General Manager Michael Facenda said. “The market’s really accepted 360 Sports wonderfully. There was no need to change it.”
Café One Eleven will “bring families and friends together for delicious meals,” according to the casino’s official website. The cuisine is described as “casual upscale.”
Java Caliente will serve as the casino’s in-house coffee shop.
The space will contain large glass dividers, with one side of the casino overlooking the mountain scenery. During events, the Agua Caliente Pavilion will be accessible. Facenda said he envisions hosting things such as food truck competitions, chili cook-offs, and cornhole tournaments. The outdoor pavilion takes up 12,000 square feet.
Table games and slot machines will be on a raised casino floor, which means the casino can rearrange in a pinch.
“It enables us to be very versatile and efficient with anything we want to do with the gaming floor going forward,” Facenda said.
Unlike the Rancho Mirage location, Cathedral City will not have a hotel — yet. But Facenda isn’t ruling out the idea in the future.
“As the corporation continues to prosper the tribe is always looking to make adjustments,” he said.
Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians casino history
As previously mentioned, the tribe operates two other casinos in Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage.
Agua Caliente Casino Palm Springs, formerly the Spa Casino, opened in a tent in 1995. In 2003, the tribe built a permanent casino property, but the hotel closed in 2014.
The Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa Rancho Mirage opened in 2001. Its 16-story hotel, which is still open today, was built in 2008.
The Cathedral City project has been in the works for quite a while. The tribe bought almost all of the necessary land for the casino back in 2017. In November 2019, construction began.
The project is expected to create approximately 500 new jobs to start. The plan was always to open Cathedral City in the fall of 2020, and despite COVID-19, that plan remains intact.
You can get a comprehensive view of construction progress and renderings of the casino at its official website.
