Eagle Mountain Casino to celebrate 1 year anniversary at new Porterville location

PORTERVILLE, Calif. (KFSN) -- This Thursday marks a year since Eagle Mountain Casino first opened its doors at this new location in Porterville.

The site sits on 40 acres, tribal leaders call it "The People's Casino", and inside are restaurants, gambling and special events for the community.

Tribal members say profits have doubled and exceeded over $100 Millions since it first opened at the new location a year ago.

The revenue is helping change the lives of hundreds of tribal members.

"For me and my people it's a great thing because it's taking us out of poverty, it's paying for a future, it's paving the way for youth to educate themselves and it's giving us a lot of opportunity financially into better lives as a tribe and as a people," explains Franklin Carabay, the Tule River tribe Secretary.

He says it took 25 years to get the casino to its new location.

It moved from the previous spot down a winding and rural Reservation Road to offer a safer and more accessible facility.

Carabay says the wait has been well-worth it.

Because profits have helped support elder tribal members, and have helped fund college educations for dozens.

"For the tribe it's our economic driver. It pays for all of the programs, it pays for all of the kids for our elders and our education. And it provides really good jobs for the surrounding community. It's been a lot of good things for a lot of people, definitely for the tribe," says Franklin.

To help celebrate the anniversary on May 9th, the casino will offer deals on meals, a tribal dance performance and one lucky winner will walk away with $25,000.

On Thursday table games will also double, there will be 10 new tables, 20 total.

And they will be open 24/7 from that point on.

Joanie Chang the Table Game assistant manager says, "The good thing is that at the time we were forced to close tables, that way it would eliminate overtime, but now with the different hours of operation it allows us to separate our team members so we can accommodate everyone else."

Food deals will be all day long on May 9th and the travel dancers will perform at 5 o'clock.

You can also download the EMC app on Thursday for the latest information.

The one-year anniversary gives a glimpse of what's to come for this casino.

There are plans to expand and eventually add a resort style hotel on site.

To learn more, visit here.

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