SACRAMENTO — Inglewood would become a gambling mecca, with so many slot machines it would rival the largest casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, under an initiative intended for the November ballot.
Hustler magazine owner Larry Flynt could install 1,000 slot machines at his card room in Gardena. Los Angeles and Orange counties combined would have roughly 20,000 slot machines, catapulting the two-county region into the ranks of the nation's biggest gambling centers.
Over the weekend, companies that own card rooms and racetracks began deploying paid petition circulators to gather the 600,000 valid signatures of registered voters that are needed to put the initiative on the ballot.
For those commercial gambling interests, the measure is virtually a no-lose proposition. It would allow them to have 30,000 slot machines -- ending Indian tribes' monopoly on the devices in California -- unless tribes agree to conditions that Indians say violate their sovereignty.
Most notably, tribes with gambling operations would have to pay 25% of their casino profits to the state. They would also be expected to comply with several laws from which they are now exempt. And every tribe with gambling operations would have to agree to all of the initiative's terms; one holdout would break the monopoly for all.
The measure's stated aim is to help solve California's fiscal problems by extracting concessions from the tribes. But given the tribes' aversion to its provisions, racetracks and card rooms almost certainly would get slot machines if voters approve the measure and courts uphold it.
"It is basically saying to the Indians, 'Pay your fair share, or else. Or else you'll lose your monopoly,' " said former California Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp, who represents thoroughbred owners, who are among the initiative's backers.
California tribes -- the only group currently allowed to operate slots in the state -- are preparing for an all-out war against the proposal.
"It needs to be killed," said Mark Macarro, chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians. "It is deceptive."
One tribe has taken steps to offer a counter-initiative for November that could increase tribes' payments to the state somewhat but also would preserve their monopoly and give them the right to unlimited expansion.
And a citizen activist who has been a critic of unfettered expansion has filed a third measure that would limit the growth of gambling and force tribes to pay more to the state.
Tribes are talking about spending as much as $100 million to kill the racetrack and card room proposition. They are the biggest spenders in California politics, having dropped $140 million on initiatives and legislative and statewide campaigns since 1998. So far, tribes have chipped in $4.7 million to fight the initiative. Tracks and card rooms have anted up $1.17 million.
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'It Is All About Money'
The stakes are high. Each slot machine can generate $300 a day -- more than $100,000 a year. Tribes have 60,000 machines in 54 casinos statewide. Card rooms and racetracks, their businesses hurting from the competition, want voters' approval to divide 30,000 slot machines.
"There are billions of dollars at stake here," said Jim Knox, director of California Common Cause, which has tracked the tens of millions spent by the gambling industry on state campaigns in recent years. "It is all about money."
Part constitutional amendment and part statute, the 17-page proposed initiative would require tribes to renegotiate the deal they struck with former Gov. Gray Davis to retain their monopoly. Approved by voters in 2000, the Davis compact mandates that tribes pay about $130 million a year to aid cities and counties where casinos are located, and to help tribes that have small casinos or no gambling operations.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, seeking to close a multibillion-dollar budget gap, has entered into negotiations with tribes. He has called on them to pay as much as 25% of their winnings to the state, starting with $500 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1.
The initiative, titled the Gaming Revenue Act of 2004, seems simple enough. The preamble suggests that the measure is a remedy for California's "unprecedented budget deficit of billions of dollars that particularly threatens funding for education, police protection and fire safety." It would provide government with more than $1 billion a year.
But it would do much more. Tribes, which jealously guard their status as sovereign entities, would be expected to agree to a dozen specific requirements.
They would be expected to comply with some state laws that currently do not apply to tribes. For example, one provision would waive their immunity to lawsuits in state courts for actions stemming from incidents at their casinos.
