California casino owned by polygamous ‘blood cult’ could soon be shut down
California regulators are working to shut down a casino with ties to a Utah Mormon fundamentalist group known to practice polygamy, including marriages of girls as young as 15.
At first glance, Sahara Dunes Casino, doing business as Lake Elsinore Hotel and Casino, doesn’t look like much.
It sits on I-15 between Los Angeles and San Diego, hundreds of miles from the glittering lights of Las Vegas. Only a plain red sign — reading “Casino Restaurant Cocktails” — identifies the building’s nature.
However, the casino is owned by Joseph and Ted Kingston, whose family also controls the Kingston Group, otherwise known as the Davis County Cooperative Society.
As reported in the Salt Lake Tribune, the Kingston Group also owns “a diverse portfolio of service, financial and agricultural operations in Utah and Idaho.”
Members of the group are known to conduct marriages of girls as young as 15, as well as marriages between cousins, according to the Tribune; the Tribune also reports that the group has drawn the attention of federal regulators, who allege that members have engaged in a multi-million-dollar tax fraud scheme.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonpartisan hate group watchdog, refers to the Kingston Group as a “blood cult” and alleges that the group also has white supremacist leanings.
California’s gambling watchdog, the Bureau of Gambling Control, alleges that the Kingston-owned casino has for years side-stepped state disclosure regulations and operated with just a provisional license issued in 1999.
The Bureau of Gambling Control alleges that the Kingstons have “failed to submit the required, completed 16 applications, had failed to timely comply, in whole or in part, with the Bureau’s requests for information, and had committed numerous violations of the (Gaming Registration) Act and the regulations promulgated thereunder in the operation and management of the casino,” according to a court filing from the bureau.
As sole shareholders for the casino, limited partners Joseph and Ted Kingston both are required, along with general partner Sahara Dunes Management, to obtain a state gambling license.
“Failure to do so renders (the casino) unqualified for licensure and makes (the casino’s) provisional license subject to cancellation,” according to the court filing.
Part of the process for getting a gambling license, through the California Gambling Control Commission, includes a background check from the bureau, which is part of the Department of Justice, to determine if a license is “suitable.”
“Suitability is determined by a number of factors including, but not limited to, the applicant’s honesty, integrity, general character, reputation, habits, and financial and criminal history,” according to the Bureau for Gambling Control.
Both applicants and their spouses, if they have “a community property interest,” must submit to this check.
This story was originally published April 29, 2019 at 3:32 PM with the headline "California casino owned by polygamous ‘blood cult’ could soon be shut down."