Red Hawk Casino opened a year ago on the Shingle Springs Rancheria amid dire predictions that it would produce gridlock on Highway 50 and cause crime to soar in El Dorado County.

But as the casino celebrated its first anniversary last week, law enforcement and emergency services officials gave the operation high marks, saying it has not unduly burdened their agencies but rather has resulted in the expected number of calls for service.

"It's pretty much in line with what I envisioned," said Sgt. Joe Sherry with the California Highway Patrol's Placerville office. "I thought there would have been more weekend traffic."

Sherry's duties include coordinating traffic control for casino events. He said the CHP has beefed up its graveyard shift to handle the 24-hour traffic generated by the casino.

As of mid-November, Sherry said, the CHP's casino-related calls included 28 arrests for driving under the influence and nine traffic collisions at the Highway 50 interchange serving the casino. Other calls involved auto theft and assault with a vehicle, but those are typical of any entertainment venue, he said.

"Any time you have a collection of people, you will have service calls," Sherry said.

Officials say they think the poor economy has resulted in fewer people than expected coming to the casino. Lakes Entertainment Inc., which operates the casino owned by the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, reported last month that customer spending was less than anticipated. Earlier this year, Red Hawk also cut staffing to about 1,500 full-time equivalent employees, down from 1,750 on opening day.

"Our timing is always great, as usual, but we did manage to pay all of our bills," tribal chairman Nick Fonseca said last week as he presented the county Board of Supervisors with checks totaling $7.7 million. They included $5.2 million toward construction of Highway 50 carpool lanes between Bass Lake and Ponderosa roads, $2 million in discretionary funds and $500,000 in sales tax collected by the tribe.

Under an agreement with the county, the tribe also contributes $500,000 annually to the Sheriff's Department to help offset the casino's impacts on law enforcement.

Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Brian Golmitz said the department received between 400 and 450 casino-related service calls during the past year, ranging from major crimes to requests for medical aid. They resulted in 121 criminal cases, which is in line with projections for the first year, he said.

"Studies have indicated that years three through five of casino operation will produce a picture of what the total number of calls for service and types of calls will be over the long term," Golmitz said in an e-mail.

Bill Clark, the county's chief assistant district attorney, said that as of mid-November, his office had reviewed 103 casino-related cases, involving a total of 123 defendants.

"We're seeing more sophisticated criminals in the sense of taking people's purses and within 15 minutes they start ringing up credit card bills," Clark said. "But we see that at (El Dorado Hills) Town Center, too. Criminals see where the money is."

The El Dorado County Fire Protection District has an approximately $450,000 annual contract to provide fire and emergency medical services to the casino and rancheria.

Chief Bruce Lacher said, "The impact to us has been minimal … about 0.5 calls per day over the past 12 months."

Only one of those calls was for a fire, he said, and that occurred during the first week of operation, when a light fixture in the casino's outdoor entryway malfunctioned.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Call The Bee's Cathy Locke, (916) 773-6866.