The city council members from neighboring cities had very positive reactions about the resort and what the tribe had been able to create in a short time. Vivanco said it’s been great to see the reactions of people who come though for some of those events, with a recent example being a League of Cities meeting. The new resort also boasts a 15,000-square-foot conference center for holding events. The number of employees roughly doubled from 710 to more than 1,400 to support the operation. The luxe new complex offered quite a bit more than its predecessor, including 200 rooms, seven different dining options and a pool. The tribe opened the new resort, located just off its golf course in the San Jacinto area, in late February 2019 as a replacement for its original casino.

“What makes sense? Is it better to do this or that?”

“At first, when you open the doors for a new facility like this, you’re worried about making sure that you can run a facility like this, but now having a year under our belt we can really now start to pinpoint those venues,” Isaiah Vivanco, tribal council vice chairman, said. The resort itself is a lot like the timeline on its walls, planted firmly in the tribe’s history and present with an eye on the future: casino officials are beginning to slowly chart a course ahead, with their vision set on making at least a few small-scale changes to the resort’s dining and amenities. But the timeline is a project in progress, with space for current and future development. The illustrated mural recounts major developments in the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians’ history - from their earliest days in 15,000 BC to the establishment of their reservation in 1883 to the opening of the full-fledged resort last year. A giant timeline stretches along a wall across from the conference center at Soboba Casino Resort.

New soboba casino resort spa