New Fort Hall casino breaks ground

After announcing the plans for the new casino earlier this month, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the $35 million building Monday.

The new 72,984-square-foot casino is expected to be up and running by March 2018. Construction is expected to create around 90 jobs, with more to be hired for casino staff, vendors and other jobs at the casino.

The building will be directly attached to the Shoshone-Bannock Hotel & Event Center. The casino will have a gaming floor with the capacity for 1,000 slot machines and a lounge space, a new bingo space for approximately 240 players, and there will be a high-end buffet serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.

There are also plans to create a new parking lot with 300 spaces.

The general contractor is Ormond Builders, Inc., from Idaho Falls, while the architect is FFKR Architects out of Salt Lake City, Utah.