With access to millions in capital and a year-round need to draw customers, it’s no surprise that tribal gaming executives believe music and live entertainment can help drive more traffic to tribal casinos.

And its ownership group, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, is expanding outside the state: In April 2022, the tribal group purchased the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas for $650 million. It’s a safe bet Yaamava’ is making even more as California’s largest tribal gaming casino with 6,500 slots. Arnold Schwarzeneggar and the United Auburn Indian Community estimated the tribe’s Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln, the third largest tribal gaming property in the state - about 30 minutes outside Sacramento - generated $350 million a year in revenue from its 3,000 slot machines. While tribal groups are not required to disclose income, a 2004 agreement between then- Gov. Oak View Group Plans $3 Billion Las Vegas Arena and CasinoĪs a result, California’s tribal groups are now among some of the richest in the country, with some properties generating hundreds of millions of dollars per year in revenue. alongside the Atlantic City/Philadelphia area.

Southern and Northern California, according to a source familiar, are now the most competitive regions for tribal gaming in the U.S. Proposition 1A legalized the operation of slot machines and card games like blackjack, poker and pai gow on tribal land, often in areas outside of San Francisco and Los Angeles that went on to explode in growth throughout the decades that followed. Tribal gaming in California is a $10 billion business, formally legalized by voters in 2000 after years of operating under a patchwork of local ordinances and supportive rulings of the U.S. The location of Yaamava’ and other Southern California tribal casinos makes them convenient tour stops when routing acts to or from Los Angeles, with these facilities just far enough outside the city that they don’t run into too much red tape around L.A. Yaamava’ is already well on its way, as the largest of a half-dozen Southern California tribal casinos that are serving as the gateway for artists to access new audiences and lucrative guarantees in California’s fast-growing regions like Sacramento, East San Diego and Palm Springs/Coachella Valley. The campaign is designed to be “something that gains much greater national recognition” says Drew Dixon, Yaamava’s vp of entertainment, “something that’s not just a play for these artists, but a tour destination where they want us to be part of something larger that they’re creating.”

Yaamava casino theater seating chart