On a recent weekday, the casino was buzzing with activity. It’s not just organizations but also casino patrons who are visiting from all over. “It’s really putting us on the map, having that ability to reach out to more organizations and host their events,” Vivanco said. The city council members from neighboring cities had very positive reactions about the resort and what the tribe had been able to create in a short time. Vivanco said it’s been great to see the reactions of people who come though for some of those events, with a recent example being a League of Cities meeting. The new resort also boasts a 15,000-square-foot conference center for holding events. The number of employees roughly doubled from 710 to more than 1,400 to support the operation. The luxe new complex offered quite a bit more than its predecessor, including 200 rooms, seven different dining options and a pool. The tribe opened the new resort, located just off its golf course in the San Jacinto area, in late February 2019 as a replacement for its original casino. “What makes sense? Is it better to do this or that?”

“At first, when you open the doors for a new facility like this, you’re worried about making sure that you can run a facility like this, but now having a year under our belt we can really now start to pinpoint those venues,” Isaiah Vivanco, tribal council vice chairman, said. The resort itself is a lot like the timeline on its walls, planted firmly in the tribe’s history and present with an eye on the future: casino officials are beginning to slowly chart a course ahead, with their vision set on making at least a few small-scale changes to the resort’s dining and amenities. But the timeline is a project in progress, with space for current and future development. The illustrated mural recounts major developments in the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians’ history - from their earliest days in 15,000 BC to the establishment of their reservation in 1883 to the opening of the full-fledged resort last year.

A giant timeline stretches along a wall across from the conference center at Soboba Casino Resort.

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