{"id":166869,"date":"2021-03-10T15:30:52","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T23:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=166869"},"modified":"2021-03-12T10:47:52","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T18:47:52","slug":"sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/","title":{"rendered":"Sky River: Boyd and Wilton Rancheria $500 Million Elk Grove Casino Officially Named"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boyd Gaming\u2019s and the Wilton Rancheria tribe\u2019s joint casino project in Elk Grove, California will be known as Sky River Casino.<\/p>\n

\"sky
Wilton Rancheria Tribal Chair Jesus Tarango addresses the crowd at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Sky River Casino, Tuesday. (Image: Dennis McCoy\/Sacramento Business Journal)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The name of Sacramento county\u2019s first tribal casino was revealed Tuesday during a groundbreaking ceremony attended by tribal members, local officials, and well-wishers. The 36-acre plot is formerly home to an abandoned shopping mall that has been derelict for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

Wilton Rancheria Tribal Chair Jesus Tarango told the assembled crowd the name had been chosen to reflect the tribe\u2019s historical identification with the nearby Cosumnes River, along which its ancestors lived for generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, we celebrate the hard-fought determination of generations of tribal members to create a future of dignity and self-sufficiency for Wilton Rancheria,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It has been a long wait.<\/p>\n

Termination and Recognition<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Wilton Rancheria\u2019s tribal status was terminated in 1958 under the federal government\u2019s Indian termination policy.\u00a0 That sought to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream American society. The policy effectively ended the government\u2019s recognition of tribal sovereignty.<\/p>\n

From the late 1980s onwards, the Wilton Rancheria tribal council focused on restoring the tribe’s sovereignty, eventually receiving federal recognition in 2009 after suing the US government.<\/p>\n

Then began the tribe’s quest for a casino \u2013 one that has been contested at every turn by campaign group Stand Up for California (SUFC)<\/a>, an organization dedicated to opposing new casino developments in the state.<\/p>\n

Since the 2009 settlement came with no land, the tribe had to apply to the US Interior Department to take the Elk Grove plot into trust. Legal battles ensued.<\/p>\n

\n

SUFC has contended, variously, that the application violated the federal Indian Reorganization Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, and California\u2019s Public Records Act and Ralph M. Brown Act.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The department approved the application in the dying moments of the Obama administration, just hours before Trump\u2019s inauguration.<\/p>\n

But SUFC challenged the action in a federal court<\/a>, arguing that the subordinate DOI official had acted improperly in taking the last-minute decision to transfer the land.<\/p>\n

Beating the Lawsuits<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The tribe has resisted all these legal challenges and now moves ahead in its pursuit of economic self-sufficiency. Raymond \u201cChuckie\u201d Hitchcock, tribal chair from 2012 to 2020, told The Citizen Voice<\/em> it was an emotional moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s shovel in the earth marks a culmination of years of community outreach, public support, environmental reviews, consultations, lawsuit after lawsuit, and the eventual perseverance of our tribe to get land in trust, beat the lawsuits, and finally break ground,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The $500 million Sky River Casino will be built and operated by Boyd and will boast 2,000 slot machines, more than 80 gaming tables, and 12 restaurants. A planned 302-room hotel tower and convention center aren\u2019t part of the immediate project, but these may be built later in phases, a Boyd spokesperson said Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boyd Gaming\u2019s and the Wilton Rancheria tribe\u2019s joint casino project in Elk Grove, California will be known as Sky River Casino. The name of Sacramento county\u2019s first tribal casino was revealed Tuesday during a groundbreaking ceremony attended by tribal members, local officials, and well-wishers. The 36-acre plot is formerly home to an abandoned shopping mall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":166874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,18456],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSky River: Boyd and Wilton Rancheria Elk Grove Casino Officially Named<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sky River Casino is the name of Wilton Rancheria\u2019s and Boyd Gaming\u2019s Elk Grove Casino, as project breaks ground at Ghost Mall.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sky River: Boyd and Wilton Rancheria Elk Grove Casino Officially Named\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sky River Casino is the name of Wilton Rancheria\u2019s and Boyd Gaming\u2019s Elk Grove Casino, as project breaks ground at Ghost Mall.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-10T23:30:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-12T18:47:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/wilton.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"864\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"575\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/\",\"name\":\"Sky River: Boyd and Wilton Rancheria Elk Grove Casino Officially Named\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/wilton.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-10T23:30:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-12T18:47:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Sky River Casino is the name of Wilton Rancheria\u2019s and Boyd Gaming\u2019s Elk Grove Casino, as project breaks ground at Ghost Mall.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/wilton.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/wilton.jpg\",\"width\":864,\"height\":575,\"caption\":\"Wilton Rancheria Tribal Chair Jesus Tarango addresses the crowd at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Sky River Casino, Tuesday. (Image: Dennis McCoy\/Sacramento Business Journal)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tribal Gaming\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribal-gaming\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Sky River: Boyd and Wilton Rancheria $500 Million Elk Grove Casino Officially Named\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sky River: Boyd and Wilton Rancheria Elk Grove Casino Officially Named","description":"Sky River Casino is the name of Wilton Rancheria\u2019s and Boyd Gaming\u2019s Elk Grove Casino, as project breaks ground at Ghost Mall.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sky River: Boyd and Wilton Rancheria Elk Grove Casino Officially Named","og_description":"Sky River Casino is the name of Wilton Rancheria\u2019s and Boyd Gaming\u2019s Elk Grove Casino, as project breaks ground at Ghost Mall.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2021-03-10T23:30:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-03-12T18:47:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":864,"height":575,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/wilton.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/","name":"Sky River: Boyd and Wilton Rancheria Elk Grove Casino Officially Named","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/wilton.jpg","datePublished":"2021-03-10T23:30:52+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-12T18:47:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Sky River Casino is the name of Wilton Rancheria\u2019s and Boyd Gaming\u2019s Elk Grove Casino, as project breaks ground at Ghost Mall.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/wilton.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/wilton.jpg","width":864,"height":575,"caption":"Wilton Rancheria Tribal Chair Jesus Tarango addresses the crowd at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Sky River Casino, Tuesday. (Image: Dennis McCoy\/Sacramento Business Journal)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sky-river-boyd-and-wilton-rancheria-elk-grove-casino-officially-named\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tribal Gaming","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribal-gaming\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Sky River: Boyd and Wilton Rancheria $500 Million Elk Grove Casino Officially Named"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166869"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}