Is the Treasure Valley Getting a Casino?!

Currently Idahoans have to drive to Jackpot, Nevada or Pendleton, Oregon to find a nearby Casino to gamble in. To this day the luckiest I have ever been was coming up over $900 on a slot machine in Jackpot on a girls weekend trip. A lot of people will take a fun getaway weekend to our neighboring state casinos but what about having one right here - even closer, how about one right outside of Boise in the Mountain Home area?

Margaret Camel with Boise Dev reports, "Two different Native American tribes are pitching proposals to build a casino in Mountain Home near Interstate 84, one closer to the Treasure Valley and the other from Eastern Idaho. The process for approving an off-reservation casino involves approval from several groups and officials at multiple levels of government, including a thumbs up from Governor Brad Little."

There still is a pretty hefty and lengthy process for both potential casinos. These are massive undertakings with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line. The Shoshone-Bannock Tribe already purchased 157 acres in 2020 for the site.

A report on Shobannews.com by the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe says, "The proposed development summary includes: A casino with 2,000 electronic gaming machines; a 250 room hotel; six food and beverage venues; 15,000 square foot event center; 8-island bowling center; two movie theaters; a video arcade; horse racing track and a grandstand and an outdoor space. The proposed development size is 500,000 square feet and the proposed project budget is $311 million."

If this does end up passing every line, signature and thumbs up it needs to pass, construction still wont be underway for at least two to three years.