Slot Machines

California voters will decide seven statewide ballot measures Feb. 5, including referendums on new state gambling compacts with four Southern California Indian tribes, an initiative that would change term limits for state lawmakers and a proposal to guarantee community college funding. The most expensive and hotly contested campaign involves the four compacts, negotiated by Gov.

A barrage of television ads says that the gambling expansion compacts on Tuesday's ballot would pump $9 billion into the state's empty coffers and help avert a tax increase. But it would take decades for the state to get that kind of money from the agreements reached with four Southern California Indian tribes -- and there's no guarantee it would ever happen. The compacts dictate that the state get at least $3 billion from the four tribes' casino business over the next 22 years.

Engineers at PureDepth Inc. spent years developing tools to help the military plot 3-D maps of war zones, eventually licensing top-secret technology to the U.S. Air Force and Navy. But the Silicon Valley start-up hit the jackpot in October when it inked a deal with International Game Technology Inc., the largest maker of slot machines. Industry experts say a realistic digital video display is the final hurdle that will completely digitize one-armed bandits.

Workers in the recently shuttered Nevada Landing casino in Jean found loose change totaling nearly $10,000, or 675 pounds, while dismantling the property's roughly 800 slot machines, a manager said. "There is money that has been soaking in Long Island iced teas for 18 years," said Chris McBeth, who oversaw technicians as they removed video poker machines from the casino's bar and broke down rows and rows of slots. As they completed work Friday, workers had counted $9,454.38.

THE more you play slot machines, the more you will lose. It's common wisdom, but still it bears repeating. I wasn't three minutes into one of the slot tournaments that can be found throughout this city when I swear that the woman competing next to me had broken out in a sweat. Furiously pounding the "Spin Reels" button, hunched over the screen and chanting, "Come on, big numbers! Big numbers!" I was doing pretty much the same, except I was embarrassed enough to keep my praying silent.

The California Senate on Thursday approved compacts allowing six Indian tribes to expand gambling despite objections from some labor unions. If approved by the state Assembly, the pacts negotiated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would allow five Southern California tribes to increase their number of slot machines from 10,000 to 32,500. The state anticipates that the compacts would add $506 million to its coffers in the fiscal year that begins in July.

A wealthy Riverside County Indian tribe launched television ads statewide today that urge lawmakers to allow five Southern California casinos to triple the number of slot machines they operate. The ads were paid for by the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, which owns a casino, resort and spa along Interstate 10 near Cabazon. The ads promote pending legislation that would allow five tribes, including the Morongo, to add a total of 22,500 slot machines to the 10,000 they now have.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's deals for an unprecedented expansion of Indian gambling broke through a nine-month legislative impasse Wednesday, paving the way for as many as 17,000 more slot machines in Southern California. The governor struck compacts last year with several tribes that agreed to give the state up to 25% of their additional gambling revenues.

Deals to add up to 17,000 slot machines at four Southern California tribal casinos passed the Legislature on Thursday, setting the stage for giant casinos with twice as many slots as the biggest in Las Vegas. Within minutes, union leaders raised the possibility of mounting a repeal campaign. The Assembly passed compacts that Gov.

Oxnard police shut down a tobacco shop this week and arrested its owner on suspicion of selling illegal weapons and operating illegal video-style slot machines at the store. Tobacco King owner Paul Kwon, 63, of Chatsworth was arrested about 3 p.m. Thursday at his business in the 800 block of Ventura Road, said David Keith, spokesman for the Police Department. A tip from a neighborhood resident alerted police to the activity at the smoke shop, Keith said.