New California Casino Slated to Open in 2025

A new California casino is expected to open at some point during the 2025 calendar year.

Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tejon, located in Kern County, officially broke ground in December 2023. Operated by the Tejon Indian Tribe, the facility will be the second California casino to bear the Hard Rock name. The other, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sacramento at Fire Mountain, is located in Wheatland, California. It is operated on behalf of the Estom Yumeka Maidu Tribe.

Overall, this new California casino will mark the 77th gaming facility inside the state, according to 500Nation.scom. Its construction is part of a recent effort to expand casino offerings in The Golden State. Some have even considered it a prelude to the imminent legalization of sports betting in California.

Is that sentiment overstated? Or wishful thinking? Might it actually be accurate? Let’s explore.

Full Details on Schedule Grand Opening of New California Casino

While an official launch date for the Hard Rock Casino Tejon has yet to be revealed beyond sometime in 2025, the structure itself can already be seen if you’re in the area. Here’s PlayCA’s Adam Hensley with the full details:

“The Hard Rock Tejon’s roots travel back two years, to June 2022, when California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a gaming compact with the Tejon Tribe. Three months later, state lawmakers signed off on the project. Construction will occur in two phases. The first phase consists of building the 150,000-square-foot casino floor and food and beverage venues, including a Hard Rock Cafe. The casino floor will house 3,000 slot machines and 48 table games.The second construction phase will focus on a 400-room hotel, a 2,800-seat Hard Rock live event center, a pool, fitness facility, and a spa.”

Initially, the approval of a new California casino received push-back from state officials. However, local legislators were swayed by the impact it could have on the economy. We’re not just talking about California casino gaming revenue, either. The new facility is expected to create a bunch of jobs.

“We’re going to be creating a lot of jobs due to the investment by the tribe and the casino, the Hard Rock brand, (and) it’s going to create about 5,000 new jobs,” Bakersfield Chief Economic Development Officer Jim Damian told Bakersfield Now. “That’s very important and very impressive for our region. It’s a great day, a great year, and a great period of time for us to celebrate.”

This number of jobs could possibly increase, too. As Hensley noted, the “Tejon Commerce Center boasts roughly 7 million square feet of industrial, commercial, and retail space. That space could grow by 2.5 million over time.”

Not All Casino Proposals in California are Going According to Plan

The construction of Hard Rock Casino Tejon may be right on schedule. But the approval of another California Casino recently hit a snag.

The Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians have been trying to get a casino resort near Vallejo (Solano County) greenlit for years. In fact, their efforts date back nearly a decade. All these years later, though, they continue to face plenty of opposition from Solano County officials.

Recent comments from members of the Solano County Board of Supervisors Chair Mitch Mashburn have only reinforced this standing. Earlier this summer, he sent a letter to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) with a smattering of complaints. Chief among them, he believes the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians are receiving preferential treatment for the BIA.

Further opposition from other tribes in the area as well as Governor Gavin Newsom could be the nail in the coffin for these plans.

One of the tribes, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, claims that the Scotts Valley “has no ancestral ties to the local area” and, as a result, shouldn’t be allowed to operate a California casino. Newsom’s office, meanwhile, has asked that the US Department of the Interior “halt” the project due to environmental issues.

Does Push to Expand Casinos in The Golden State Say Anything About the Future of Sports Betting?

Everything related to California casinos invariably comes back to the future of sports betting. That makes sense. California profiles as the biggest sports betting market in the country. Any expansion of legal gaming whatsoever will be viewed through that lens.

In this case, though, there’s not much to be gleaned from California casino expansion. Those gaming compacts are negotiated on a tribe-by-tribe basis. The legalization of sports betting in the United States typically requires a constitutional amendment. And that consists of getting a California sports betting bill onto a general election ballot.

As we know now, this isn’t happening in 2024. However, tribes are hopeful retail California sports betting can be legalized in 2026.

To that end, the race to construct new California casinos could be traced back to that timeline. If you can have your doors open before sports wagering comes to The Golden State, you will theoretically be in position to get a sportsbook license.

Granted, it is not clear how many tribes would receive sports betting licenses as part of any approved bill. But you better believe every California casino operator will attempt to open a sportsbook if and when legal sports wagering is approved.

Take a look at this list of the top online sportsbooks so you can find one that works for all of your sports betting needs: