MADERA COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) — The future of a mega casino in Madera County is now uncertain.
A Fresno appellate court dealt a major blow to the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians, ruling Tuesday that the approvals used to build the North Fork casino are no longer valid.
The lawsuit pits North Fork against the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians, which operates a casino resort in Coarsegold.
Chukchansi believes North Fork’s off-reservation project was void from the start, arguing a 2014 proposition that rejected the casino trumped prior state approval.
The appellate court agreed. “The judgment is affirmed,” the three justices wrote.
The casino’s plans called for 2,000 slot machines, 40 table games, and a 200-room hotel. There would be restaurants, a food court, and meeting rooms.
The tribe planned to hire over 1,000 team members beginning in early 2026.
Online, North Fork has posted regular updates, sharing the construction progress and teasing a summer opening.
“We’re working on a 64-acre lot,” a project engineer said in a video posted to Facebook and Instagram. “And the building itself is going to be 264,000 square feet.”
Despite the ruling, construction appeared to continue on Friday. Action News saw several workers near the roof and dozens of trucks.
In a statement to Action News, representatives wrote:
“The state appeals court ruled on a narrow question of state law and expressly did not consider what effect, if any, the 2014 voter referendum had on the 2012 and 2016 federal approvals of the North Fork’s project as a matter of federal law. Picayune Rancheria previously challenged each of those approvals in the federal courts and lost conclusively, providing North Fork the right to proceed with its project. North Fork will continue to comply with all applicable law, including the federal laws that govern Indian gaming, as it proceeds with construction of its project to benefit the regional economy and the lives of its more than 3000 tribal citizens.”
The project is already 20 years old, after North Fork’s first request for approval in 2005.
Now, litigation that has played out in courtrooms from California to Washington for years could extend even longer.
North Fork can ask the California Supreme Court to hear the case.
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