Frequently Asked Questions

Q: When will the casino open its doors?

A: The Foothill Oaks Casino will open in the fall of 2008. Foothill Oaks Casino will offer 2,000 exciting slots, progressive jackpots, live action blackjack, Poker and Pai Gow, a high stakes gaming room, five restaurants, shopping, retail and childcare facilities. Complete with a 3,000 space parking facility for your convenience. Managed by Lakes Entertainment, Inc. for the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Foothill Oaks Casino will blend Vegas-style thrills with the natural beauty of Northern California.

Q: Does the tribe have a deal with the county?

A: Yes. El Dorado County and the Shingle Springs Rancheria have signed a $191 million intergovernmental agreement that will provide the county with at least $87 million in payments over 20 years for services and as a contribution to the County's General Fund. Included in this will be $500,000 per year earmarked for law enforcement and another $500,000 per year to pay sales taxes just like any other business in the county does, ensuring the tribe is not given an unfair advantage. The agreement also provides $5.2 million each year for 20 years - approximately $104 million total - from the tribe to construct HOV lanes on Highway 50. When the casino opens, it will be the single biggest contributor of revenue of any local business, creating tens of millions of dollars for the county to provide services to all local residents. This agreement will ensure that El Dorado County will benefit for decades to come.

Q: When will you begin hiring staff for the new casino?

A: As construction nears completion, the Shingle Springs Rancheria will be hosting its own job fair for the casino. We expect to have as many as 1,500 full and part-time jobs available with an estimated annual payroll of more than $20 million.

Q: What is happening with the lawsuits?

A: With the signing of the intergovernmental agreement between the tribe and El Dorado County, the county agreed to drop all of its lawsuits against the state and the federal government that related to the tribe. Now, only an opposition group called VRL has any legal actions against the tribe's projects. VRL's state lawsuit, designed to delay the construction of the interchange, has come to a conclusion with the state court accepting Caltrans' environmental documentation on the project and rejecting VRL's motions for injunctions to further the delays. Although VRL has stated their desire to appeal, there is little chance that such an appeal will further delay the project. VRL also has threatened to file a lawsuit in federal court challenging the federal determination of Rancherias and whether or not they are legal for gaming operations. Approximately half of all casinos in California are located on Rancherias with each one separately granted permission by the federal government to conduct gaming, just as the Shingle Springs Rancheria was in 2002. The tribe considers this a frivolous argument and expects an easy victory if the lawsuit is ever filed.

Q: Why does the tribe need to build a casino anyway?

A: The Shingle Springs Tribe has been without proper access to its land for nearly forty years. Since the 1970's, the only way into and out of the Rancheria was by a private road through a home development. Since the mid 1990's the tribe has been without any commercial access to its land, effectively eliminating any possibility for self-sufficiency for the tribe. After working closely with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Caltrans and other state agencies, the tribe received approval to build and maintain an interchange from Highway 50 to the reservation at no cost to taxpayers. This $45 million project is only possible with the economic capital investment brought by a gaming facility.

Q: Will the casino benefit area businesses?

A: Absolutely. Visitors, who may have gone elsewhere for their entertainment, will now be in the Shingle Springs area, giving local businesses a great boost in potential customers and revenues. Numerous economic studies have shown how casinos greatly benefit local economies. This project will create 1,500 new jobs with an estimated annual payroll of $20 million. Beyond the casino jobs, thousands of additional jobs and tens of millions in revenue will be created for local area vendors providing goods and services to the casino. One need look no further than Riverside County in Southern California to see what Indian gaming can do for a community. While the state was going through a massive recession, areas near Indian casinos in Riverside County were booming. The same was true for San Diego County and every other community surrounding an Indian casino. But don't believe us; travel to an Indian casino yourself and ask the local businesses what it was like before and after the casino opened.

Q: Won't the casino attract crime to the area?

A: The fact is most crime produced by casinos is directed against the casino itself. Crime rates have not been shown to dramatically increase in areas around Indian casinos. That's because most Indian casinos, unlike their Nevada counterparts, are not in urban areas, where crime thrives. A major study called "Casinos and Crime: An Analysis of the Evidence," found that communities with casinos are equally as safe as areas without them. In some cases, crime rates decreased when casinos have opened due to the increased security of the facilities.

Q: Could you give me a brief history of the tribe and the Shingle Springs Rancheria?

A: The Miwok were one of the largest California tribes before the European settlers arrived. Our territory went from the San Francisco coast to the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Historians have traced our ancestral roots in the area for thousands of years. The Miwok have since been split up and we're just one of many tribes with Miwok ancestry. Our history and culture is rich with traditions that demand self-government and the right to take care of ourselves. As for our Rancheria, it is a 160-acre reservation located in Shingle Springs, right off Highway 50. The Rancheria was established in the 1920s.

Q: Does the tribe have any access to its land?

A: We do not have commercial access to our land. This means that anytime we want to get a commercial delivery or service, whatever it is, we have to fill out a permit application before anything can be brought to the Rancheria. Most importantly, a lack of commercial access means we cannot maintain any economic development to fund our tribal government. We have to rely on handouts from the federal government to pay for the basic running and maintenance of our government and reservation. We have no ability to pay for programs for our members unless there is a government grant available to do this.

Q: Why is the tribe landlocked like it is?

A: In the 1960s, the California Department of Transportation and the Bureau of Indian Affairs agreed to take some of our land to build Highway 50. Doing so, it landlocked our reservation, virtually making it an island in El Dorado County. We were assured at that time that access to the reservation would be provided for us, but it never happened. That is why we have decided to build the freeway access ourselves. We must make certain that we have access and the opportunity for economic diversification here on the Rancheria.

Q: What about the land across the highway that you are taking into trust? Are you going to build another casino on it?

A: No. We are building a new health clinic to service the entire community and some additional housing for our tribal members. Federal law prohibits the tribe from doing any gaming on land we did not have in 1988, when Indian Gaming was first legalized.

Q: Is the Rancheria a reservation?

A: Yes. There are many types of reservations: nations, villages, communities, colonies etc. The rancheria system was created at the beginning of last century as the federal government was attempting to settle the large number of homeless bands of Indians spread across California. The federal government identified uninhabitable pieces of land and placed groups of Indians there. In the case of the Shingle Springs Rancheria, the land proved inhospitable and our members could not live there until the 1970's when some basic human necessities, like water, were available to residents.