By Damian Martinez, journalist at G&M News.
The Koi Nation has been planning to build the Shiloh Resort & Casino in Sonoma County. Could you tell us more about the project? What is the overall vision for this establishment?
The Shiloh Resort & Casino is proposed near the Koi Nation’s ancestral home in the heart of California’s wine country. The USD 600 million project will include a 2,500 Class III gaming machine facility, a 400-room hotel, six restaurants and food service areas, a meeting center, a pool and spa, vineyards, and a live entertainment venue. The Koi Nation entered a business partnership with Global Gaming Solutions, a wholly owned enterprise of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, to engage as the developer and operator of the completed facility. The project features low-rise architectural design, ensuring preservation of the wine country’s natural beauty while incorporating different details and locally sourced materials that pay homage to the surrounding region. One of the goals of the design is to ensure the resort feels like a natural extension of the surrounding land. Moreover, the project’s design emphasizes sustainability, driven by Koi Nation’s historic relationship to the land. The resort will be climate-conscious and energy-efficient, reflecting a commitment to environmental stewardship and respect for the natural surroundings. Notably, the project has earned the support of 79 federally recognized tribes, in addition to community members and labor.
What unique features or experiences can visitors expect?
Respecting the health of visitors and workers alike, the project will be one of the only entirely non-smoking casinos in California except for limited, restricted areas. The Shiloh Resort & Casino will bring together all the natural beauty of wine country vineyards and restaurants, with the extensive amenities of a resort property. The live music venue will attract artists and thus visitors from around the world, establishing the resort as a hub of entertainment and cultural activity.
How will this entertainment center benefit the Koi Nation economically and culturally? Will it also benefit the broader Sonoma County community?
The Shiloh Resort & Casino project will bring significant economic and cultural benefits to the Koi Nation. A sustainable revenue source from gaming will enable our tribal nation to achieve economic self-sufficiency and provide a means to support the needs of tribal members. By leveraging rights afforded under the 1988 federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, we will finally have the chance to build the prosperity and financial stability afforded to all other federally recognized tribes, making a difference now and for generations to come. Culturally, the project will help preserve and promote the Koi Nation’s heritage and traditions. The resort will serve as a place to share our rich cultural history with visitors, fostering greater understanding and appreciation of our way of life and our long road to justice. For Sonoma County, the resort and casino will serve as an iconic tourist destination attracting visitors from around the globe which will boost the local economy and create jobs for the community. During construction, the project is estimated to create 1,609 full-time equivalent, good-paying, union jobs. Once operational, 1,571 full-time equivalent jobs will be created as well. Additionally, the convention space will help to serve the event, trade show, and conferencing needs of the regional economy.
What are the major regulatory hurdles the Koi Nation faces in this development?
Despite some misinformation to the contrary, this has not been a ‘fast-tracked’ process for our tribe. After a century of mistreatment by the Federal Government, our tribe was restored to federal recognition status in the year 2000. Then, after years of litigation, the Chief Justice of the Federal District Court of Columbia in 2019 affirmed the Koi Nation’s ability to pursue gaming through the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act’s restored lands exception. It’s been three years since our September 2021 request for a restored lands determination from the United States Department of the Interior. The project has been in various forms of federal review. This includes -but is not limited to an Environmental Assessment prepared in 2023- an Environmental Impact Statement prepared earlier this summer, and multiple, public comment periods, some of which were extended. We now await a final decision from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.