Jamul Indian Village Tribe and Jamul Casino

    The poster child for a Native American tribe that has lost its way is the small East San Diego County Jamul Indian Village tribe. Jamul has approximately 50 tribal members on gifted land that encompasses less than 6 acres. The tribe is not a real tribe but rather what the Federal government calls a "reorganized tribe." The land they occupy was gifted to the tribe by the Catholic Diocese to be used as ancestral burial grounds. In comparison, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians who operate a casino in the Palm Springs area has approximately 1,000 tribal members on a reservation that encompasses more than 35,000 acres. After more than 30 years of fierce opposition, Jamul forced their casino on San Diegans in 2016. 97.5% of Jamulians opposed the casino. Unlike most Native American tribe pathways to opening a casino, prior to the casino, Jamul had no revenue streams and was forced to partner with Penn Gaming (the casino was originally named Hollywood Casino). Within 2 years, Jamul defaulted on their loans to Penn and was forced to run the casino on their own with the current disastrous results.

        Even while still owing Penn Gaming tens of millions of dollars, Jamul is building a hotel adjacent to the casino expected to open in 2025. How do you build a 3 level casino, 16 story hotel and 5 level parking structure on these sacred 6 acres? First you evict and silence the remaining tribal residents, especially those who oppose the desecration of their ancestors' final resting places, then you build on top of and all around your ancestors! When the casino, new hotel and parking structure are complete, it will occupy all but less than 1/4 acre of the Jamul Indian Village tribe's ancestral burial grounds. Even the sacredness of  their ancestral graves could not did not stop the Jamul Indian Village tribe's greed.

        California passed the country's first smoking ban in 1995. Some trihes, like the Sycuan Band of Mission Indians also in the San Diego area, sell their own brands of cigarettes. Jamul doubled down on cancer and gives away a free pack of cigarettes a day to players, even the highly addictive banned menthol cigarettes! The stench of stale cigarettes and second hand smoke that permeate throughout Jamul Casino is stifling and hazardous. Cigarette ash fills the casino floor, machines and bar tops. Cigarettes and second hand smoke kill approximately 50,000 Californians a year, or the equivalent of the population of San Luis Obispo.

 Homeless people, crackheads and vagrants routinely roam the Jamul Casino floor harassing gamblers, panhandling, looking to steal money left in machines, sleeping in their vehicles and bathing in the bathrooms. The single lane road passing through the once quiet, quaint, rural, small town of Jamul, has now been turned into an endless line of traffic, drunk drivers and fatal accidents. In 2023, one of Jamul's highest rollers had $50,000 stolen in the casino's high limit room. The player was banned from Jamul Casino after filing a $200,000 negligence civil lawsuit. Also in 2023, an elderly player was robbed in front of the VIP entrance in broad daylight. There were over 6,000 security incidents at Jamul Casino in 2023 and 212 calls for service made to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. Instead of investing in an industry standard security program (Jamul Casino's Beverage Director is also in charge of retail, waste management and security), Jamul is building a hotel. Once the hotel opens, it will be a haven for drug dealing, sex trafficking, prostitution and other illegal activities. It will only be a mater of time before a robbery, rape or murder occur at the new Jamul Casino hotel.

  If Barona Casino is San Diego's "Happiest Casino on Earth," then Jamul Casino is infamously San Diego's "Smokiest and Most Dangerous Casino on Earth."