(KMJ) – After being closed for nearly 15 months, the Chukchansi Gold Resort and Casino in Coarsegold is back open for business.
The Casino says nearly 1,000 visited the site after the doors were reopened at 10 a.m. on New Year’s Eve. In a brief ceremony minutes before the opening, tribal officials called for peace among all of Chukchansi’s factions and prayed for better times. An official grand opening is planned for January 15th.
A dispute between factions within the Picayune tribe boiled over into a fight. And that, among other issues, caused the Casino’s closure in October 2014. Since then, tribe has been working hard to repair internal rifts and get the location reopened.
Last week, under an agreement with the National Indian Gaming Commission, the tribe will be issued a fine of $19.8 million dollars. But it will only have to pay back about $500,000. The remaining 19 million would be waived if Chukchansi completes audits in a timely manner and remains safe for the public in its first three years back open.
