"Crowded parking lots at nearly every casino in California testify to gambling's popularity, but the competition remains fierce for the player's dollar.

With an eye on Rolling Hills Casino in Tehama County and its rapid expansion from bare dirt into a full-scale resort since 2000, the Redding Rancheria plans to build a large new hotel and spa, double the size of its event center and casino space, and open two new restaurants in a $90 million overhaul. In addition to drawing gamblers from the rival down Interstate 5, the rancheria hopes to crack into the convention circuit with the new hotel.

Win-River is certainly a thriving operation, but its struggle to keep up with the competition highlights the luck-of-the-draw randomness of Indian casinos' success. Some tribes manage to put valuable land into trust (like the Rolling Hills property). More often decisions made by Indian Affairs bureaucrats long before anyone even imagined a bingo hall, let alone a California closing in on 40 million residents, mean wealth for some tribes, enduring poverty for others."

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Geography deals a difficult hand to the rancheria (The Redding Record-Searchlight 5/27)
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