Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa Rancho Mirage marked the 30th anniversary of Agua Caliente Casinos with a jackpot.

On April 21, the property unveiled 12,000 square feet of additional casino gaming space with hundreds more slot machines. New games that were added include Ultimate Fire Link Triple Nova, Huff and Extra Puff, Hot Hot Double Blazing Lock, Red Hot Jackpots, Bang Bam Boom and Miner’s Dream.

The new slots joined other popular games such as Money Gong Emperor, House of the Dragon, Huff, and Even More Puff Hard Hat Edition. The casino is also the first in Southern California with Aristocrat’s new Hyper Link games, with three options: Buffalo, The Power of 88, and Just Ca$h.

Agua Caliente Casinos Chief Operating Officer Saverio Scheri said in a phone interview that the addition was accomplished by knocking down a few walls where the poker room once was and building a new extension to connect it to the casino. The poker room was relocated to be closer to Ace Deli, La Olla and Jade, which Scheri said gives players more privacy.

“There’s also slot machines there that are complimentary to our poker players,” he said. “They really love that move, and we really opened up the floor with the expansion, so now it just flows and feels like it’s always been part of the casino.”

The floor expansion of the property comes as Agua Caliente Casinos celebrates a 30-year milestone with its sister properties, Agua Caliente Casino Palm Springs and Agua Caliente Casino Cathedral City. To promote the anniversary, the casinos hosted an event in downtown Palm Springs that featured food trucks, drone shows and a performance by Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo.

Scheri said the gathering was meant for all the neighboring communities that have supported the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians’ vision of being the first tribe to operate three casino properties in the Coachella Valley.

Agua Caliente Casino Palm Springs, formerly Spa Resort Casino, is the oldest property in the heart of downtown, having been around for decades. The casino started in a tent next to its hotel in 1995 and was then replaced with a permanent property in 2003. The hotel portion of the property closed in 2014.

The Rancho Mirage property, formerly Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa, opened off the 10 Freeway in 2001 and features a spa, 16-story hotel, a 2,200-seat theater and a four-story garage.

The Cathedral City property opened nearly two decades later, Nov. 24, 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic, which delayed the opening of its outdoor space, the Agave Caliente Terazza, to April 2021. The outdoor venue is a centerpiece of the Cathedral City casino, offering a place for holiday celebrations, including the setup of skating rinks for the Fourth of July. Weekly community events include yoga, cornhole, Latin music nights and video game tournaments.

The tribe also operates the Spa at Séc-he, which opened in April 2023 and features hot spring waters estimated to be over 12,000 years old, with mineral components not found elsewhere.

While the spa isn’t a part of the other two properties, it has allowed them to increase their wellness footprint in the heart of Palm Springs, and last year it was named the top spa in the country by Spas of America.

“While we’re enjoying some great success, we can’t just be satisfied where we are. We have to do those things, but at the same time, we have to think about, well, what kind of things can we do that’s new and exciting to really keep people coming in to visit us?” Scheri said. “So many people don’t realize that we’re not just a casino, we’re a full resort with top-notch five-star amenities that you can’t find anywhere else, and that is what we’re really hoping to convey.”