Jun. 10, 2003 - California's newest Indian casino opened Monday in Placer County near Lincoln, with a little less fanfare and a lot more traffic than anyone anticipated. 

The Las Vegas-style Thunder Valley Casino, owned by the United Auburn Indian Community, drew a crowd in the thousands that jammed area roads for miles and raised questions about how so many people could have so much free time on a Monday morning. 

So huge and eager was the throng that casino officials decided about an hour before the scheduled 10 a.m. opening to end the speeches and let the games begin. 

"We were standing in front of the doors and almost got trampled," laughed Jessica Tavares, the tribe's chairwoman. "People were in a hurry to get inside." 

Were they ever. Some showed up at 7 a.m. By 8:30, traffic was already backing up on Industrial and Athens avenues, the closest streets to the casino, and by 10 a.m. it was at a standstill on Highway 65. By 11 a.m., the casino's main and overflow parking lots, with a 3,300-vehicle capacity, were full. 

And by noon, California Highway Patrol officers estimated it was taking one to two hours to get to the casino from Interstate 80, less than 10 miles away. 

"They were expecting something like 10,000 people the first day," said CHP Officer Larry Blevins. "I would say they'll be way over that." 

The CHP, which has a $62,000 contract with the tribe to provide traffic control for the casino's first three weeks of operation, had nine officers directing traffic Monday morning. 

Tribal attorney Howard Dickstein said that despite limited access to the casino, he did not expect ongoing traffic woes. 

"Opening day is a unique event," he said. "It gets unprecedented publicity and people want to come. I don't think (Monday) is representative of what we'll see in the future." 

Although CHP officers said they noticed a lot of Bay Area license plate frames Monday, most of the casino's patrons are expected to come from within a 50-mile radius. Even so, many gambling industry analysts say Thunder Valley's opening will deal a serious blow to casinos in Reno, which rely heavily on Northern California bettors. 

The opening gives the Sacramento region its third major casino, following the Jackson tribe's casino in Amador County and the Cache Creek Indian Bingo and Casino in Yolo County. 

It will also give California its 52nd operating Indian casino -- and raises the question of how many more the state will be able to handle. 

"There is obviously a saturation point," said Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School and an internationally recognized expert on gambling and gambling law, "but we are so far from it, it isn't going to be reached anytime soon." 

An analysis by the investment and banking firm Bear Stearns, released late last year, predicted that Northern California alone will have 10.3 million adults by 2006, representing potential annual gambling revenues of $2.6 billion. 

All of which left Antelope resident Manuel Mandawe, 47, supremely indifferent as he joined the early crush of humanity that descended on the casino. 

A nurse's aide at the Roseville Convalescent Hospital, Mandawe won $1,000 before he even got inside, just for signing up for the Thunder Valley slot players club and having his name picked in a random drawing a week ago. 

"This is easy," he beamed as a casino official handed him 10 crisp $100 bills during opening ceremonies just outside the main entrance. "Now I want to get in there before it gets too crowded." 

The scene that greeted Mandawe inside the 75,000-square-foot casino, amid the flagstone columns, Victorian chandeliers and faux waterfalls, was a cultural anthropologist's dream: 

--Eight people stood in line at an ATM just inside the main doors to withdraw cash -- and pay hefty service fees that started at $3.58 for a $25 withdrawal. 

--Thirty-two people stood in line at Fat Burger, one of five outlets in the casino's fast-food court, many of them for the "Big Fat Deal," which consists of burger, fries and soft drink for $6.29. Bigger spenders were taking in the Around the World Buffet, where $9.99 got you a spread that ranged from trout to tortellini Alfredo and from chocolate-covered strawberries to creamed herring. 

--More than 200 people stood in line to validate their "Boarding Pass" cards, which let them earn casino merchandise and meal points in return for time spent playing the slots. 

With 1,906 slot and video poker machines to choose from, the throngs pumped nickels, quarters and bills of all denominations into machines. 

At the popular "Wheel of Fortune" slot island, Dave Larson of Modesto fed $300 into a machine, to no avail. 

"We went to the opening of the Black Oak casino (near Sonora) and won $7,800 on a machine just like this," said Larson, who operates a towing company, "so we thought we'd try our luck here." 

Larson's luck may have moved a few machines over, where Debbie Levine of Roseville lined up to Sevens and a Double to win $5,001.23. 

Levine, who works for Maloof Sports and Entertainment -- which happens to own a casino in Las Vegas, among other things -- looked a bit dazed at the return on her $100 investment. 

Tavares, the tribe's leader, looked more thoughtful than dazed at the return on the tribe's investment. 

"We're winning something for the tribe here in terms of education and health care," she said. "(But) I want to see it this way next week before I get too excited." 

Tavares and Dickstein said the tribe has meetings beginning next week with educational and health care consultants about setting up programs for tribal members, and will begin allocating funds for them next month. 

"The tables have totally turned now. They (health care plans) are falling all over themselves to provide health care now," Dickstein said. "A few years ago, they said 'four people have diabetes? You're out of here," or 'you don't qualify as a group." Now the tribe has lots of new friends." 

Bee staff writers Art Campos and Jennifer Morita and Roseville Bureau Chief Meda Freeman contributed to this report. 

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(c) 2003, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.