EL CAJON — With talk of casino resorts and the latest-generation video gambling machines, American Indian reservations up and down the state are queuing up for the continued conversion of California into a gambling state.
Leaders of California's fledgling Indian gambling industry are heralding a recent judge's order that the state negotiate new gambling treaties with tribal councils. The order says that if the state hosts gambling--which it does through California Lottery games--it must allow Indians to do the same, and to reap their own benefits.
With the exception of some reservations that are boldly offering slot-type gambling machines without state approval, the installation of video gambling machines may still be months--if not years--off. Even then, California is unlikely to experience widespread reservation gambling because of geographic, marketing and business constraints, Indian leaders say.
Still, 31 tribes and bands are in line to negotiate "compacts" with the state for increased levels of gambling, and some are looking confidently toward what they believe the future holds:
* In Yolo County, leaders of the 12-family Rumsey Rancheria, whose Cache Creek Indian Bingo and Casino attracts players from Sacramento and the Bay Area, are talking of a $13-million expansion to double the size of their casino.
* In Sonoma County, the 50-member Makahmo Pomo Indian tribe announced last month that it has teamed up with Japanese investors to construct a $75-million gambling, hotel and sports complex, in anticipation of new gambling opportunities.
* The Agua Caliente Indians in Palm Springs--who had once eschewed gambling ventures--last year allied themselves with Caesars World, one of Nevada's gambling heavyweights, to construct a $20-million hotel-casino complex at an undisclosed location.
* The Morongo Indians plan a $7-million expansion of their casino along Interstate 10 at Cabazon with a new casino-hotel complex.
* On Friday, the Pechanga Indian Reservation near Temecula announced a partnership with Grand Casinos of Minnesota to build a 60,000-square-foot gambling facility, which will feature the video gambling machines as soon as its compact is signed with the state.
* And here in the Dehesa Valley 20 miles east of San Diego, operators of the Sycuan Gaming Center, considered among the foremost Indian casinos in the nation for its mock-Vegas ambience, are ready to expand their banks of video gambling machines with video poker, video keno, video lottery and other games that pit player against machine, dreams against computer chips.
