San Manuel escalates tribal skirmish; Pullback on paid parking?

The SoCal arms race continues. Having already deployed a mind-boggling 4,800 slot machines, San Manuel Casino is going upscale in a big way. It will add a concert hall, spa, pool plaza and hotel, all to the tune of $550 million. It’s San Manuel’s way of taking aim at newly expanded Pechanga Resort & Casino, as well as Palm Springs-area rivals Agua Caliente Casino Resort & Spa and Morongo Casino Resort & Spa. Meanwhile, Pala Casino Resort & Spa is opting out of this escalating warfare, putting a $170 million, 349-room hotel on hold. This is not a battle meant for the faint of heart (or light of wallet). While Pala has revamped its existing, 500-room hotel, “We’ll revisit it in full after we see how the summer goes. So far, it’s been very, very busy,” said Vice President of Hotel Operations Hassan Abdel-Moneim.

San Manuel, for its part, says it is responding to customers’ number-one complaint, the lack of a place to lay their weary heads. “San Manuel has always been a locals and regional casino and we don’t have a hotel … It’s something very obviously missing from our casino experience,” remarked General Manager Loren Gill. Building that hotel is San Manuel’s way of saying it’s ready to do battle with the big boys. “It would be different if we were building 1,000 to 2,000 rooms.  certainly see how Pechanga’s expansion would impact Pala,” Gill added.

The hotel, approximately 500 rooms, will have to be shoehorned into a parcel confined by a water pipe and adjacent homes. Gill understated, “we’re trying to maximize a small footprint here.” He’s picking a good time to expand. California tribal-casino revenues are increasing at double the pace of Indian casinos nationwide, up 7% between fiscal years 2016 and 2017. Still, Pechanga Development Corp.’s Christina McMenamin laughed off the imminent competition: “We are constantly improving and raising the guest experience at Pechanga to stay ahead of the market. Because of our most recent expansion, no other gaming resort in Southern California offers a luxury hotel, a magnificent pool, luxury spa, and golf all at the same property.” We shall see.

* Paid parking may really have become a breaking point on the Las Vegas Strip, where everything is hellishly expensive. Wynn Resorts has blinked, announcing that if you pay $50 or more on property you will receive one day’s parking free. That’s sort of a concession. Wynn spokeswoman Deanna Pettit-Irestone explained why the company wasn’t just reverting to free parking: “The approachable spend amount is designed to ensure that parking remains plentiful for resort guests while reducing parking overflow from neighboring businesses.” For “neighboring business” read Fashion Show Mall and Palazzo.

* Slowly, casino companies are feeling their way toward satellite-casino locations in Pennsylvania. Targeting a spot 30 miles outside of Pittsburgh, the duo of Cordish Co. and Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment has settled upon Westmoreland Mall, where a 100,000-square-foot casino will become part of the retail array. The casino is going into the space currently (but not for long) occupied by a Bon-Ton department store. At the same time, the Springettsbury Township Board of Supervisors is feeling out its constituents as to their sentiments regarding a Penn National Gaming casino at York Galleria (another Bon-Ton graveyard).

If there is any lingering doubt about Penn’s sincerity, let it be noted that the company has dropped its lawsuit against Gov. Tom Wolf (D) over the constitutionality of the satellite casinos. Having sunk $50 million into a Springettsbury license, Penn no doubt feels the imperative to make good on its investment. Penn spokesman Eric Schippers insisted the company still felt it was in the right but wanted to spare itself “what is likely to be a lengthy and costly legal battle.” Springettsbury Township is also guilty of a flip-flop, its selectmen having voted against casinos before voting in favor of them.