Before the boom in Indian casinos, Gamblers Anonymous held one meeting a week in Palm Springs and the surrounding Coachella Valley. The self-help group now holds sessions every day, with two on Saturdays and Tuesdays.
"This is ground zero," said Tom Tucker, a former gambling addict who was presiding over a gathering of 15 people at a Palm Springs restaurant. In a brightly lighted banquet room, some told somber stories of squandering family savings and retirement checks to feed slot machines.
"There are so many casinos here," Tucker said.
The valley is home to one of California's densest clusters of gambling halls; five are within a 30-mile drive. It's perhaps the Golden State's closest replication of Nevada.
Residents say Proposition 70, which would allow unbridled expansion of gambling on Indian reservations, raises the stakes in the debate weighing the industry's economic benefits against its social costs. Its main sponsor is the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, based in Palm Springs.
Tucker and fellow addiction counselors see lessons for other parts of the state, where Indian casinos have multiplied from San Diego County to the hinterlands of Northern California.
But many business and government leaders say gambling has been a net win for the desert valley, despite complaints that casinos have driven up crime and created an underclass of low-paid workers.
"I'm not a gambler," said Palm Springs Mayor Ronald Oden, "but I'm not opposed to people enjoying it as a form of entertainment."
Oden and tourism officials say the betting parlors dotting the sand-blown region from Palm Springs to the city of Coachella have generated several thousand jobs and seeded the construction of hotels.
The casinos have yet to draw significant numbers of tourists who have strictly wagering in mind, said Gary Sherwin, a marketing vice president for the Palm Springs Desert Resorts Convention and Visitors Authority. "We're not going to out-Vegas Vegas, but we're a fantastic option."
He estimated that 1% to 3% of the valley's 3.5 million annual visitors were "destination gamblers."
The fact that most casino customers are locals troubles addiction counselors, but folks such as Gary Paterson and Lou Capecci are undisturbed. The Palm Springs residents were leaving the Agua Caliente's midtown Spa Resort Casino on a recent night.
"I don't see a downside," said Paterson, an artist.
