San Diego's Sycuan tribe has permission to expand its casino business to a second location.
The tribe's new compact with California allows the tribe to operate two gaming facilities.
The new compact permits the Sycuan tribe to have up to 2,500 slot machines. The current casino has about 2,000.
The new deal with the state allows the tribe to have a second gaming location as long as it is on tribal land and as long as gaming isn't the primary function there. The compact allows up to 500 slot machines at the second location.
The 100 room Sycuan Resort, located a few miles west of the tribe's casino, meets the requirements set forth in the compact. The primary business at the location is a resort hotel with golf courses and tennis courts and the facility is part of the Sycuan Tribe's reservation.
Sycuan officials were not available for comment.
California's tribal gaming market generated $7 billion in revenue in 2013. That's a quarter of all the Indian gaming revenue generated in the country.
"Other tribes in Southern California have renegotiated their compacts and those compacts allow for the addition of another gaming facility," said Alan Meister, a Los Angeles-based economist who tracks the gaming industry.
Many of those expansions have been on hold because the economy is so sluggish, Meister said.
