There’s always something new and notable happening at the San Diego region’s casinos. Here’s a sampling.
Barona tops ‘best casino outside Vegas’ list
Barona Resort & Casino was recently named Best Casino Outside of Las Vegas in the 2019 USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards.
Barona, a full-scale resort in Lakeside with 2,500 slots and 120 table games, a 400-room hotel, boutique spa, multiple restaurants and a championship golf course, was among 20 nominees chosen by a of gaming industry experts and USA Today 10Best editors. The top 10 winners, selected by popular vote over the course of 28 days, included only two West Coast casinos.
Temecula’s Pechanga Resort & Casino, the area’s largest casino resort, with a 200,000-square-foot casino, 1,090 hotel rooms, 13 dining venues, golf course and a two-story spa, took the third spot on the list. Connecticut’s massive Foxwoods Resort Casino came in second place.
“At Barona, we pride ourselves in providing our players with the best gaming experience in the country so it is an honor to receive recognition as the ‘Best Casino Outside of Las Vegas’,” Rick Salinas, general manager of Barona Resort & Casino, said in a statement. “It is almost poetic to receive this top distinction because Barona is patterned after the casinos from the Golden Age of Las Vegas when the casino player was the focus. We recognize, reward and welcome casino players.”
Pechanga brings the (lobster) claws out
Pechanga Resort & Casino has fired the latest salvo in the region’s lobster buffet wars, expanding its Thursday night all-you-can-eat lobster feast to a second night on Fridays.
The sustainably sourced 1 1/4 pound lobsters are flown in fresh from Maine daily and cooked in small batches. Remaining lobsters are kept in tanks, not frozen. Buffet guests are served a hot lobster bake bag that includes the traditional fixings of roasted potatoes and corn on the cob.
The lobster buffet runs from 4-10 p.m. and costs $46.99 for adults, with $3-$12 discounts for players club .
Speaking of Pechanga: A character on ABC’s “Modern Family” was speaking of Pechanga on a recent episode. On the show, Cam was extolling all the features of the pricey, top-of-the-line fridge he’d just bought to his skeptical husband Mitchell. Mitchell’s first thought: “Somethings tells me we’re not going to be able to see Diana Ross at Pechanga anymore.”
Sycuan plucks new top executive from Vegas
Robert Cinelli, the senior vice president of casino operations at the Venetian and Palazzo in Las Vegas, has been named the new general manager of Sycuan Casino Resort, the Sycuan Tribal Council announced on Nov. 13.
Cinelli, who replaces longtime general manager John Dinius, will start his Sycuan job on Jan. 1.
In a statement, Sycuan Chairman Cody Martinez said Cinelli “brings incredible financial talent and an abundance of management experience and customer focus in a highly competitive gaming market. Rob’s breadth and depth of knowledge, and goals for our new property, mesh well with the goals and objectives of the tribal council and the entire tribe.”
Cinelli had worked for the Venetian-Palazzo parent company Las Vegas Sands Corp. since 2011. He is currently working toward his MBA at the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School in Malibu.
Dinius had been with Sycuan for 26 years, having worked his way up to the top casino executive position after starting as a bingo parlor pull tab clerk. He was out of a job less than six months after the completion of Sycuan Casino Resort’s $260 million expansion.
Sycuan opens gas station, convenience store
The Sycuan Tribal Development Corporation celebrated the Oct. 1 grand opening of Sycuan Square, a 5,500-square-foot convenience store and 16-pump gas station at 4915 Dehesa Road in El Cajon, about a mile and a half from Sycuan Casino Resort.
Sycuan officials promised the 24-hour gas station would have the lowest prices in East County and also noted that it serves as the only outlet for fuel, regular and diesel, in the neighboring communities of Dehesa, Crest and Harbison Canyon.
Sycuan Square includes the new location for the drive-through Tribal Smoke Shop. The convenience store sells everything from sandwiches and salads made fresh on-site to hot foods like burgers, hot dogs and pot stickers, a range of coffee drinks, dairy products, warm cookies and more.