CoCo County Supes Back Casino Plan

Contra Costa County officials are throwing their support behind a tribe's proposal to build what could be the San Francisco Bay area's first Las Vegas-style casino, after spending years fighting it.

The reversal over the $1.5 billion project came Tuesday at a meeting of the Board of Supervisors. They unanimously approved an agreement with the Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians that would pay the county $12 million a year from the tribe's proposed casino and resort in Richmond.

The tribe's gaming application is currently before the Department of the Interior, which has final say over the project.

Supervisor John Gioia, who led the fight against the proposal, says he feared the county would be in a weaker bargaining position if it tried to reach a revenue-sharing agreement after the tribe received federal approval.