The North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians opened its $750 million casino in California’s Central Valley on Oct. 27, completing a development that the company said created more than 1,500 local jobs.
The 264,000-square-foot North Fork Mono Casino in Madera is managed by Station Casinos, a subsidiary of publicly traded Red Rock Resorts Inc. The property off Highway 99 has more than 2,400 slot machines, 40 table games, eight dining venues and four bars.
The opening followed more than a decade of federal and state litigation over the project. The latest lawsuit, filed in June by the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians, argued that North Fork’s lacked a valid state approval under federal gaming law.
On Oct. 29, U.S. District Judge Kirk E. Sherriff denied Picayune’s request to halt gaming and dismissed its gaming claim against North Fork on sovereign immunity grounds. A challenge to federal approval of the casino’s management contract remains pending against the National Indian Gaming Commission, according to the order.
The casino’s opening starts a seven-year management agreement under which Las Vegas-based Red Rock receives 30% of the project’s net income, according to the company’s annual 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The agreement also requires training tribal members so they may assume management when the contract expires.
Financing included a $725 million delayed draw loan facility for the tribe’s wholly owned North Fork Rancheria Economic Development Authority. New York-based VICI Properties committed up to $510 million of that amount in April 2025, according to the real estate investment trust’s financial disclosures.
Construction began in September 2024 on a 305-acre site that the Interior Department took into trust for the tribe in February 2013, Red Rock reported in the SEC filing.
The casino’s total project cost was approximately $750 million, including design, construction, pre-opening expenses, and financing and development fees, according to Red Rock.
The company said the casino opened ahead of schedule. Its announcement attributed the more than 1,500 local jobs to gaming, hospitality, and food and beverage operations at the property.
