Their total territory at the time of European contact comprised about 7,000 square miles (18,130 square kilometers), ranging from San Luis Obispo to Malibu Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains outside Los Angeles. The Chumash used to occupy lands stretching along 200 miles (322 kilometers) of southern California coastline, plus four of the Santa Barbara Channel Islands: Anacapa, San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz. The Chumash are sometimes called the Santa Barbara Indians. The people called themselves “the first people,” although many tribal elders today say that Chumash means “bead maker” or “seashell people.” The Spanish used the name “Chumash” to refer to every group of Native Americans living on these islands and along the southern coast of California.

King, and the Beach Boys, and the tribe regularly gifts tens of thousands of dollars to nonprofits like Planned Parenthood, Ridley-Tree Cancer Center, Toys for Tots, and area school programs.The name Chumash (pronounced CHOO-mash) may have come from the word the tribe used to refer to the inhabitants of one of the Santa Barbara Channel Islands. The resort’s entertainment lineup has featured guests from James Brown to George Clinton, B.B. Opened by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians in 2003, the casino operates from the tribe’s reservation land along State Route 154 and is said to host more than 6,000 people daily. Playing a $5 machine and betting x3, the gambler made a $15 bet to win the $1.3 million prize, which is the largest jackpot at the casino yet, surpassing $1.02 million pulled in 2014. “I was just surprised and very glad,” said the big winner, who wished to remain anonymous, adding that he planned to pay for his grandkids’ tuition and buy his granddaughter a new car on her upcoming 16th birthday. Proving that lightning does strike the same spot twice, a Ventura man won $1.3 million in a progressive jackpot at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez on July 1 after hammering $556,000 in May from the slot machine right next to the million-dollar winner.

Chumash casino new years eve