Less than five years after California voters approved Indian gambling, the casinos have grown to about a $5-billion industry, a figure that some academic experts say could grow fivefold over the next several years.
Yet amid the unprecedented prosperity that gambling has brought to a handful of tribes, Indian leaders worry that the rapid expansion of casinos could generate a backlash that would put their sudden new wealth at risk.
So far, as a Times poll taken last week indicates, the tribes retain a strongly favorable image with Californians. But tribal leaders concede that they have misstepped as their wealth and influence have grown.
Oversized campaign contributions, high-profile disputes with local governments over the impact of casinos on traffic and water, and infighting among tribal members over who should be allowed to share in the wealth all have created potential image problems.
"While we know lots and lots about struggling to survive, we don't know very much about prosperity," said Kevin Gover, a tribal lobbyist and former assistant secretary of the Department of the Interior. "The one thing we cannot afford to let happen in Indian gaming is to allow the public to perceive us as greedy or ungrateful."
Opponents of tribal gaming already argue that the Indians take unfair advantage of federal laws that recognize tribal governments as separate sovereign entities, exempt from most state laws and regulations.
"The Indians suffered terribly in the past," said Cheryl Schmit, leader of Stand Up for California, an organization that opposes the spread of casinos. "But over the past 60 years, they have been able to use our public schools and drive off the reservation to take jobs in our industries. They can do military service.
"They're citizens of the state, and receive its benefits," she said. But at the same time, "they act like governments taking advantage of a system with the help of attorneys and public relations experts who assert their authority to build empires."
Most of the state's Indians continue to live in poverty. The state has 107 federally recognized tribes, but only 15 have casinos with the maximum 2,000 slot machines allowed under the compacts between the state and tribes that govern Indian gambling. An additional 36 tribes have casinos that each operate 300 or more slot machines.
