About 70 tribal members attended a meeting Wednesday and voted to approve a $10.7 million stone-and-stucco design, Stan McGarr, the tribal secretary, said Friday.
With accompanying improvements, the total cost of development would run about $20 million, he said.
"We have estimated that a casino here could bring in revenues of between $500,000 to $750,000 a month," he said. "We're projecting it will create between 400 to 600 jobs."
The Pala tribe has about 867 members on the San Diego County reservation.
The casino's financial backer and developer is Excelsior, a Connecticut company that also created a successful casino for the Mastuckett Pequot tribe in Connecticut, McGarr said.
In March, the Palas became the first tribe to reach an agreement with Gov. Pete Wilson over reservation gambling. Under federal law, Indian tribes are required to have state compacts for most forms of casino gambling; California tribes have been operating without them.
Wilson maintains that video slot machines are illegal under California law and must be replaced by lottery-style machines in which a player would join a game already in progress rather than a game of chance on any particular machine.
Tribes across the state said the governor's insistence on the deal threatens their sovereignty and their livelihood, and only 10 of California's 39 gaming tribes have signed similar agreements.
Many are hoping for the passage of Proposition 5 in November, which would legalize the video slots and make the compacts moot.
Link to: California's Modern Indian War
California's Modern Indian War-BLACK BACKGROUND