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State of Play’s TL;DR
- Yaamava’ Resort & Casino in San Bernardino County is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
- What was once a contested bingo hall is now one of the biggest casino properties in California.
Yaamava’ Resort & Casino is celebrating 40 years of tribal gaming, marking a path from a contested bingo hall in San Bernardino County to one of the biggest casino properties in California.
According to LAist, San Manuel Indian Bingo opened on July 24, 1986, with space for 2,500 players at a time. The venue later expanded into San Manuel Casino and, after a major 2021 rebrand and renovation, became Yaamava’.
The current property spans more than 700,000 square feet, with 7,500 slot machines and a 17-story hotel tower containing 432 rooms and suites.
From reservation hardship to a gaming business
The LAist report frames the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation’s gaming business as an outgrowth of economic need and tribal self-determination.
Before the bingo hall opened, tribal leaders were struggling to fund basic support for their community.
Johnny Hernandez Jr., the Yuhaaviatam’s vice chairman, said the tribe had been placed on “non-fertile land” where outsiders may not have expected it to survive. Early plans for bingo also faced resistance from local officials and some nearby residents, with opponents trying to delay or stop the project, including through court action.
Even so, San Manuel Indian Bingo drew large crowds. The hall frequently sold out and became so popular that some people climbed over back walls to get in.
Legal changes helped tribal gaming grow statewide
Yaamava’s growth also tracks the larger history of tribal gaming in California. The US Supreme Court sided with tribes in a gaming case involving the Cabazon and Morongo reservations in Riverside County, and Congress later passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988.
The LAist also points to California’s later expansion of tribal gaming after Prop. 1A and Prop. 5 allowed compacts for Class III gaming on tribal lands. Randall Akee, a professor of economic development in Indigenous communities at Harvard University, said larger-scale tribal gaming in California “took off in the post-2000 era.”
That broader market is now significant. According to National Indian Gaming Commission figures, California and northern Nevada led the nation in gross gaming revenue in fiscal year 2025 with $12.6 billion.
What the milestone says about Yaamava’ today
The tribe says it is now one of San Bernardino County’s top employers with nearly 8,000 employees.
The tribe also says gaming revenue has funded medical care for elders, teachers for schools, backup generators during outages, and more than $450 million in donations to local communities.
The former bingo hall site is now a parking structure, underscoring how far the property has evolved since 1986.
Based on reporting by Cato Hernandez for LAist.
