“It’s a bad bet, it always has been and it always will be,” said County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, who has been one of the most vociferous challengers of the Jamul casino, which, like Barona, Sycuan, Viejas and Golden Acorn, is located in her district. Intense community opposition and lawsuits against the casino were coupled with a limited, 4-acre footprint that prevented the building of a hotel or other amenities - even that most signature of casino offerings, a buffet.
While most new casinos need about a year to “really start clicking,” Palermo said, “Jamul was a very problematic project in a lot of ways and got off to a pretty rocky start.” The national total in 2016 was $31.2 billion. According to the National Indian Gaming Commission’s most recent data, tribal casinos generated $8.4 billion in revenue in California and Northern Nevada (which doesn’t include Las Vegas) in 2016, a 6.3 percent increase over the previous year.
