On a recent Tuesday afternoon, the casino was alive with the sounds of slot machines ringing and gamblers shuffling between games. The expansion is expected to employ 1,400 construction workers and add about 1,200 full-time jobs, bringing the casino’s staff to about 5,000 employees. Gill said he hopes to break ground next year with the opening scheduled for 2020. Hoping to take advantage of the growth, the tribe plans to spend about $550 million on a hotel with 500 rooms, a spa, pool and five new restaurants.

The casino has been drawing a maximum of about 1 million visitors a month since the upgrades were completed, but Gill declined to say how much numbers have increased in the past year. Gill said the bingo parlor could not match the surging demand for the slot games, hot wings, barbecue chicken and jalapeño poppers. In place of the last 25,000 square feet of bingo-devoted space, in addition to the expansion of the Rock & Brews restaurant, the casino added a merchandise shop, a new bar and the final 400 of the 900 new slot machines. Over the years, slot machines and card tables have taken over bigger shares of the casino. The San Manuel Indians jumped into gambling in 1986 with a 50,000-square-foot bingo hall, the nation’s second-largest bingo operation. “We are out of the bingo business,” he said. That meant eliminating more geriatric games. Like most of the other casinos that have invested in upgrades and expansions, the San Manuel Casino is making a play for younger gamblers with a more lively atmosphere, Gill said. It serves bar food among rock images and giant television screens on the wall, blaring concert footage and music videos. The most noticeable change has been the expansion of its Rock & Brews restaurant, a raucous rock ’n’ roll-themed eatery founded by, among others, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, members of the rock band Kiss.

Since October 2016, the San Manuel tribe has added 900 slot machines, 16 card tables, a daiquiri and juice bar and a Mexican restaurant designed by comedian George Lopez, plus overhauls of its steak restaurant, retail outlet and an Asian-themed gambling room.

San manuel bingo and casino