POLITICS: Nevada casinos join church groups 
     against a proposal to ease the way for American 
     Indian gambling. 
     August 3, 1998 
     By MICHELLE DeARMOND 
     The Associated Press 
     LOS ANGELES Ñ A young couple, jogging with a 
     baby in a stroller, stop aghast as the ground rumbles 
     and sprouts towering neon signs: "Casino-rama," 
     "Slots Casino" and, finally, "Casino California." 
     The TV ad implies that a ballot initiative easing the 
     way for widespread American Indian gambling would 
     turn Main Street California into a tawdry imitation of 
     Las Vegas. 
     Among the backers of the $500,000-a-week ad 
     campaign: Nevada casino companies. 
     The casinos and unlikely allies that include church 
     groups are on one side of an ad war that's starting 
     unusually early and could become one of California's 
     most expensive initiative fights. 
     On the other side are the state's Indian tribes. Their ad 
     campaign is financed by profits from reservation 
     casinos that the state maintains are illegal. 
     "This is an assault," said Waltona Manion, 
     spokeswoman for the tribal alliance known as 
     Californians for Self-Reliance. "Just as a century ago 
     enemies of the tribes used U.S. cavalry to come in 
     and take away (the Indians') lives and their land; 
     today they're using TV commercials." 
     Proposition 5 on the November ballot would allow the 
     state's 112 Indian reservations to build casinos on their 
     land offering slot machines, lotteries, card games and 
     other gambling. Its rules would replace a restrictive 
     agreement that Gov. Pete Wilson negotiated with the 
     Pala tribe in San Diego County and is pressing as a 
     statewide model. 
     The opposition group Ñ Coalition for Unregulated 
     Gambling Ñ says it doesn't oppose all reservation 
     gambling but is against the kind Prop. 5 would bring, 
     for fear it would give the industry a black eye. 
     "We have competitive concerns, but we have 
     consistently opposed gambling which is discriminatory 
     or that does not involve careful regulation," said Mike 
     Sloan, vice president of Circus Enterprises. 
     "Our concern is this is not really an Indian issue, per 
     se, as much as it is an issue of regulation," added Alan 
     Feldman, spokesman for Mirage Resorts Inc., one of 
     Las Vegas' leading hotel-casino companies. 
     Sloan wouldn't reveal how much money he has 
     contributed to the campaign. 
     Feldman said his boss, Mirage Chief Executive Officer 
     Steve Wynn, has given $150,000. He emphasized that 
     Wynn doesn't oppose all reservation gambling and has 
     testified in favor of it in other states. 
     A financial report by Bear Stearns & Co. predicts that 
     if Indian gambling became legal in California, Las 
     Vegas casinos would lose 6.5 percent to 7 percent of 
     their revenue Ñ $258 million to $300 million Ñ 
     during the first year or two. 
     Harder hit would be the Reno-Lake Tahoe market, 
     where fewer attractions and harsh weather deter some 
     would-be gamblers. There, 13.7 percent to 16 percent 
     of revenues would be lost, according to the report. 
     With stakes that high, it is no wonder the battle is a 
     costly one. 
     The Coalition Against Unregulated Gaming didn't 
     dispute an estimate that it is spending $500,000 a 
     week on its ads. 
     The tribal group also is spending at a rate that some 
     initiative watchers say could make Prop. 5 a rival for 
     the state's most expensive ballot battle, the $84 million 
     spent in 1988 on Prop. 103, which rolled back 
     insurance rates. 
     Typical for California's initiative wars, there are 
     strange tactics Ñ casinos paying for TV ads that 
     demonize casinos Ñ and strange alliances. 
     The opposition includes church groups that oppose 
     gambling as immoral and labor groups that say Prop. 5 
     fails to guarantee Indian casino workers the right to 
     unionize. 
     Among the sponsors listed by the Coalition for 
     Unregulated Gambling are the Nevada Resort 
     Association, California Gaming Association, Hilton 
     Hotels Corp., United Farm Workers and the Hotel 
     Restaurant Employees International Union. 
     Keeping company with them are the New Harvest 
     Christian Fellowship of Norwalk and the Traditional 
     Values Coalition, which lobbies for 8,600 California 
     churches. 
     "We had to join forces in the Second World War with 
     people we ended up having some pretty serious 
     problems with," said the Rev. Lou Sheldon, chairman 
     of the Traditional Values Coalition. "We had to defeat 
     the common enemy." 

Link to: California's Modern Indian War