San Manuel Casino rebrands as Yaamava’ Resort & Casino at San Manuel

Goodbye, San Manuel Casino.

Hello, Yaamava’ Resort & Casino astatine San Manuel.

The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians is changing the sanction of its Highland country casino up of the December debut of its caller luxury edifice and resort, tribal officials announced Friday, Sept. 24.

“Yaamava’ is simply a autochthonal Serrano connection which means spring, a clip for maturation and rebirth,” Afsi Bird, vice president of edifice operations, said successful a telephone interview, “and similar immoderate transformation, this alteration is precise important to the tribe, and it’s truly a large milestone for them to person this beauteous luxury edifice successful the making for the past 3 years.”

Yaamava’ “matches the commencement of this caller building, the commencement of this caller endeavor,” Bird said. “A caller beginning.”

The people began its gaming operations successful 1986 and arsenic it expanded became known arsenic San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino earlier shortening its sanction to San Manuel Casino successful caller years.

Laurens Vosloo, CEO of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, wrote successful an email Thursday, Sept. 23, that the forthcoming opening of the edifice and amusement halfway “represent astir apt the astir transformational of efforts — arsenic the spot transitions from a determination casino into a full-blown resort.

“The value of these carnal changes gave the Tribe the accidental to find if it was the close clip to rethink the casino’s identity,” helium said. “And for them it was.”

Vosloo added: “It’s not usually a clear-cut determination to sunset 1 marque and present another, particularly erstwhile the archetypal has a beardown estimation and truthful overmuch heritage. But it was truthful important to the Tribe to beryllium capable to grant their ancestral lands and culture.

“Ultimately their values led them to this decision.”

Kate Spilde, seat of the Sycuan Institute connected Tribal Gaming astatine San Diego State University, said renaming a destination spot with 35 years of marque equity is an illustration of the Serrano people “bringing their civilization and connection guardant and emphasizing the ‘tribal’ successful tribal gaming and truly establishing and reminding guests that this is tribal land.”

“How are the gaming revenues, the gaming facilities, the gaming employment truly enhancing the tribal assemblage and the portion and the assemblage astir the tribe? It’s a precise antithetic mode of knowing gaming and welcoming guests,” Spilde said.

“This isn’t welcoming guests to a business, this is welcoming guests to tribal homeland.”

The rebrand successful San Bernardino County includes a caller ocular individuality and logo inspired by the ancestral lands of the Serrano people, tribal officials said successful a connection astir the caller branding.

With yucca works fronds forming a ‘Y’ successful a woven handbasket pattern, the Yaamava’ logo symbolizes the San Manuel band’s section past portion paying homage to its civilization and heritage.

As the rebrand pertains to the tribe’s sports, stadium and arena partners, wherever visitors saw San Manuel Casino before, they present volition spot Yaamava’ Resort & Casino astatine San Manuel, Vosloo said. San Manuel Band of Mission Indians whitethorn besides beryllium utilized successful spot of San Manuel Casino.

A large rebrand similar this volition instrumentality time, Vosloo said.

“We person already begun changing signage implicit and purpose to person it completed successful the adjacent fewer weeks,” helium added. “That said, we are beauteous realistic successful knowing that a batch of radical who person been portion of San Manuel Casino’s travel whitethorn support calling by its aged sanction for a while.”

There are nary plans to alteration the sanction of the restaurants oregon different venues, Vosloo said.

The casino, operated by the tribe’s San Manuel Entertainment Authority, has evolved implicit the past 35 years. After the archetypal bingo hallway opened successful 1986, a level for paper games and 300 slot machines was added successful 1994, followed by an summation successful 2001 that boosted the fig of slot machines into the thousands.

The existing casino opened successful 2005 with gaming space, restaurants, a parking store and a bingo hallway that served arsenic the property’s amusement venue, attracting artists arsenic divers arsenic Gloria Estefan, Kiss, Little Richard, Joan Rivers, Paquita la del Barrio and Drake. The casino yet closed the bingo hallway and transformed the abstraction into the Rockin’ Casino, which was completed successful November 2017 and features a fig of music-themed slot machines, arsenic good arsenic eateries specified arsenic Rock & Brews and George Lopez’s Chingon Kitchen.

And arsenic the spot grew, truthful did San Manuel Casino’s branding identity, which tin beryllium seen successful salient places astir Southern California, from aggregate placements successful Dodger Stadium to billboards on the region’s engaged freeways. In summation to sponsoring astir nonrecreational sports teams successful Southern California, San Manuel Casino has besides partnered with nonrecreational sports teams successful Nevada, including the Las Vegas Raiders and the Golden Knights.

But branding is much than business, Spilde said.

“Tribes, similar each businesses, indispensable see instrumentality connected investment, but much than that, tribes person an further metric that’s conscionable arsenic important to them: instrumentality connected community,” she said.

Growth successful Southern California and beyond

The resort’s $760 cardinal enlargement began successful July 2018, but the coronavirus pandemic delayed construction. In caller months, the people unveiled the archetypal signifier of the complex’s expansion, including much gaming space, aggregate caller high-limit rooms, the Serrano Vista Café, three bars and caller shops.

The adjacent signifier includes the 17-floor hotel, expected to unfastened successful December, which volition have 432 impermanent rooms, including 127 suites, a spa and a excavation area, among different amenities. 

And successful aboriginal 2022, a 2,800-seat amusement venue volition unfastened to the public. 

Renaming the Highland spot was discussed arsenic aboriginal arsenic 2018, erstwhile San Manuel tribal leaders broke crushed connected the caller edifice and resort, said Jenna Brady, a people spokeswoman. With the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians expected to adjacent connected the Palms Casino Resort successful Las Vegas by the extremity of the year, rebranding its anchor casino successful Southern California allows the people to lend the San Manuel sanction to different concern ventures, Brady added.

By the extremity of 2021, the San Manuel people said it volition employment much than 6,000 people.

The tribe’s enlargement of its casino footprint followed a fig of different tribal casinos increasing successful the portion successful caller years.

The caller Agua Caliente Casino Cathedral City opened successful November 2020; Soboba Casino Resort’s caller casino and hotel opened successful the San Jacinto country successful February 2019; and Pechanga Resort & Casino’s expansion — including a 2nd edifice tower, caller lawsuit abstraction and a excavation analyzable — was completed successful March 2018.

Additionally, the casino’s website is changing to yaamava.com and volition person societal media handles with the caller name.

“Yaamava’ should convey the Tribe’s affirmative committedness to preserving and advancing their autochthonal culture,” Vosloo said. “Moreover, successful upcoming advertizing campaigns – which truly volition statesman to present the caller marque aboriginal this twelvemonth – we volition statesman to peel backmost the layers of Yaamava’ and its possibilities.”