The Desert Diamond Casino (poker, slots (regular, poker, roulette, blackjack and craps), keno and bingo) is building a second location, also South of Tucson. The new facility will be larger, includes a hotel, and will NOT be Vegas styled. The Tohono Oodam Tribe will have a facility that reflects their heritage and cultural environments. I suspect that the interiors will be more like the Mohegan Sun.

The costs are being covered by the profits from the existing facility. The new facility will be further South of Tucson than the existing place, as they are trying to get players up from Nogales, AZ and Sonora (Mexico). The new facility will have a card room, but it is unknown if the existing card room closes. They are 18 months away from completion, but groundbreaking has happened.

My observation.....If they close the card room at the Desert Diamond in favor of the new, un-named facility, could it be possible that the Casino of the Sun will re-open their card room? The Sun's card room remains empty and unused. If it does re-open, it is geographically closer to Tucson than the new casino. The fact that the Desert Diamond was closer to Tucson probably had something to do with the Sun's card room closure. I suggested to the Desert Diamond that they do a GO.

Interesting tidbit. The Desert Diamond was named in a Tribal naming contest. The three finalist were: The Presidio (that part of the Reservation is called the Presidio), The Cactus Casino and Desert Diamond. Desert Diamond of course won out. It is not known how the new casino will be named.

Desert Diamond $5 Millenium/5th Anniversary chips are still available. In fact, the Card Room Promotions Manager is considering a re-order of 1,000 more. I will confirm if and when this happens.

Jim Follis