Orange County Register

High stakes for Indian gaming vote

ELECTIONS: The battle over Proposition 5 is shaping up as one of the most expensive in state history.

September 14, 1998

By IBON VILLELABEITIA
The Orange County Register

The issue of American Indian gaming in California has led to a November ballot initiative that analysts predict will be one of the most expensive political battles in state history.

Proposition 5 would allow California's 112 Indian reservations to offer slot machines, lotteries, card games and other forms of gambling.

Proponents — including a coalition of tribes — say the measure would protect Indian casino gambling. The opposition — which includes the Nevada gaming industry, labor groups and church organizations — contends that passing the initiative would lead to unregulated, full-blown Las Vegas-style gaming in California.

Under the 1988 federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, Indian tribes are required to negotiate compacts, or agreements, with states about the nature of the games they are allowed to operate.

In March, Gov. Pete Wilson signed an agreement with the Pala Band of Mission Indians that limits tribes to electronic lottery-style machines. The Legislature approved the agreement in August. Many tribes oppose the compact and have called it a threat to Indian sovereignty and economic self-sufficiency.

California bans Las Vegas-style electronic slot machines and other house-banked gaming, in which players bet against the house. The only machines allowed here are lottery-style ones, in which prizes come from the pool of money provided by players.

Many Indian casinos in California have electronic slot machines and have refused to sign gaming agreements.

Paul Apodaca, assistant professor of American Studies at Chapman University and a consultant for the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian, said the dispute centers on Indian sovereignty and the attempt by reservation Indians to develop a self-sufficient economy.

"Every time the tribes have tried to create an independent economy to improve themselves in history, they have been vehemently attacked and criticized," Apodaca said, adding that similar tensions surfaced in the 1950s and 1960s, when Indians first began establishing cigarette stores and bingo parlors on reservations around the country.

"The irony in this country is that we promote free enterprise, but as soon as Indians try to exercise it, they are pushed back."

Apodaca, who is part Navajo, said gaming revenues have given American Indians a foothold in the economy and provided them with jobs, housing, education and health care.

American Indian gaming generated an estimated $6 billion in gross revenues in 1997. Of that amount, about $1 billion came from the 40 tribes that operate casinos in California, none of them in Orange County. The local Juaneno Indians, who have yet to receive federal recognition, have shown interest in developing gaming operations.

With such high stakes, it's no surprise the battle over Indian gaming rights could prove one of the most expensive political campaigns in state history. Analysts estimate both sides could spend a combined $75 million by Election Day.

"If California Indian gaming grows large enough, it's going to have an impact on Nevada casinos," said Bill Eadington, professor of economics and director of the Institute For the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno. Last year, 25 percent of Las Vegas visitors were Californians, Eadington said.

Las Vegas-based casino and hotel groups Caesars ITT and Mirage Resorts Inc. have made contributions of $200,000 and $150,000 respectively to defeat the initiative, campaign records show.

Some Prop. 5 opponents said they are not against Indian gaming.

"We are all for Indian sovereignty and tribal gaming. The real issue here is about unregulated gambling," said Gina Stassi, spokeswoman for The Coalition Against Unregulated Gambling.

Link to: California's Modern Indian War

California's Modern Indian War-BLACK BACKGROUND