A lawsuit claiming Redding Rancheria casino expansion plans are illegal has officially moved forward in Shasta County Superior Court.
The Redding Rancheria Tribe and Shasta County agreed that the county would provide public services for the casino. The lawsuit, filed in February, contends that the deal was improperly made and challenges the use of public funds for those services.
Here’s a closer look at the lawsuit and what this means for an upgraded Northern California casino.
County supervisors violated contract law, suit alleges
The proposed casino relocation and expansion have been in the works for a while. The agreement between the county and the tribe took place a year ago. A judge later declared the city of Redding‘s sale of the land for the project illegal. Then, in September 2023, the tribe finally won public access to the site.
California Land Stewardship Council LLC v. Shasta County and its Board of Supervisors will go to trial roughly six months from now, on Jan. 28, 2025. In short, the suit was filed because taxpayers aren’t thrilled that they will be helping foot the bill for the casino’s public services over the next 30 years.
Allocating law enforcement, emergency responders, and firefighters’ services to the casino would mean fewer resources for area citizens, the lawsuit argues, and contends the services would be paid for by improperly provided public funds.
“The board recklessly committed the county to provide services to a casino on Tribal land for a 30-year-term without any benefit to the public,” the lawsuit reads. “In effect, the board gifted tens of millions of dollars of funds to the Tribe.”
Objections to the agreement arose from the county sheriff, fire chief, and district attorney. They argued that the contract didn’t consider the casino’s impact on public safety, fire protection, and emergency services, among other things.
The board still approved the deal, which was led by Shasta County District 1 Supervisor Kevin Crye. According to A News Cafe, Crye said he believed the tribe “was going to walk away from any deal” unless swift action was taken.
The board never had the county risk manager or the county council review the agreement. The lawsuit argues that the supervisors violated contract law and never received proper approval.
New Win-River Casino would be twice the current size
The current Win-River Casino has about 32,000 square feet of gaming space. It’s one of the smaller casinos in Northern California, but this new project would change that.
The square footage of the new casino would effectively double that of the current facility. The location would have 70,000 square feet of gaming area and roughly 1,200 gaming machines. There would be a 250-room hotel, an events center, a conference center, an amphitheater, and various retail shopping options.
The hotel building would be the tallest building between Portland and Sacramento, according to A News Cafe.
Earlier this month, the Department of Interior put the Strawberry Fields property in trust for the casino project.
When would the new casino be complete?
We don’t know for sure just yet.
When the DOI formally approved the casino relocation project, the tribe said the timeline to break ground “depends on several factors” According to the tribe,
“While we are confident a few special interest groups that have opposed our project will challenge the decision in federal court … we [also] are confident that the DOI’s decision-making process for our casino relocation project is thorough, sound, and in compliance with federal law. The tribe has waited for more than two decades for the restoration of these aboriginal homelands into trust and will … take any necessary action to preserve our interests in the decision.”
The current lawsuit will also determine how quickly the project can be completed. Public resources would greatly aid the efforts, but again, taxpayers don’t want to foot the bill. Should this lawsuit drag on, there’s a chance the casino project could do the same.
