San Manuel Indian Tribe Now Owns Palms Casino Las Vegas but Will it Change?


Shark Display @ palms Las Vegas 

For years, the San Manuel tribe has showed an interest in and supported the Las Vegas community through contributions to nonprofits and Las Vegas institutions including UNLV’s William F. Harrah College of Hospitality and William S. Boyd School of Law, the Public School Foundation and Shade Tree Shelter, plus helped with the Las Vegas Raiders and Allegiant Stadium and the Vegas Golden Knights ! Who knew that ? Seriously though apparently they have been “greasing the wheels” so to speak for some time now. Lets dig deeper.


The Palms, which was closed for over a year, is just west of I-15 near the Las Vegas Strip, and includes a casino, approximately 700 hotel rooms and suites, multiple casual and upscale dining options, meeting and convention space, a 2,500-seat theater, pool and spa, other amenities and Palms Place condos.

“The Palms and Palms place are a well-designed property which has been greatly redeveloped and maintained by Red Rock Resorts. Our Board believes that the Palms is a casino resort that many of San Manuel Casino’s great guests would enjoy,” said Hospitality Authority Chairwoman Latisha Casas. “We are excited to move forward with this transaction.”  

So how do these deals go through ?

They had been coached through this acquisition by the firm Latham & Watkins LLP. They gladly represented the Tribe in the transaction. The finance and real estate team was led by San Diego partners Sony Ben-Moshe and James Mann, and Los Angeles partner Kenneth Askin, with San Diego associates Jeff Gonzalez and Will Swanson. The corporate team was led by Orange County partner Michael Treska, with Orange County associates Brett Urig, Paul Jeffrey, Mekbeb Hagos, and Trevor Yedoni. Advice was also provided on tax matters by Chicago partner Joseph Kronsnoble, with Chicago associate Michael Zucker; on intellectual property matters by Orange County counsel David Kuiper; on benefits and compensation matters by San Diego partner Holly Bauer; on environmental matters by Orange County partner Chris Norton; and on litigation matters by Orange County partner Andrew Gray, with Orange County associate Wesley Horton.

(Red Rock Resorts, parent company of Station Casinos, purchased the Palms in 2016 for $312.5 million. Red Rock then undertook a $620 million renovation of the property that completed in late 2019.)

“Today represents an important step for the Tribe and its long-term economic diversification strategy,” said Ken Ramirez, Chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.
Headquartered in San Bernardino County, California, the San Manuel tribe also operates the San Manuel Casino Resort in Highland, CA. That property is currently undergoing a significant expansion. A larger casino and event center are due to open later this year and in early 2022.