Tribal Casinos

This is what a recession looks like at Southern California's tribal casinos: Nearly every seat at the 25-cent slot machines is filled. Gamblers wait three deep around the cheapest blackjack tables. The reels on the penny slot machines spin almost without interruption. The Saturday night crowd at the San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino in San Bernardino County reflects what gaming operators say is the new reality of tribal casinos: The visitors are still streaming in, but they have cut way back on spending.

California welfare recipients using state-issued debit cards withdrew more than $1.8 million in taxpayer cash on casino floors between October 2009 and last month, state officials said Thursday. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an executive order requiring welfare recipients to promise they will use cash benefits only to "meet the basic subsistence needs" of their families. The order also gave the state Department of Social Services seven days to produce a plan to reduce other types of "waste, fraud and abuse" in the welfare program.

A judge ruled Tuesday that state law does not allow slot machines, keno or blackjack and that the governor does not have the authority to negotiate gambling compacts with Indian tribes. Arizona horse and dog racing tracks sued the state, seeking to stop Gov. Jane Dee Hull from signing new compacts with the tribes. The tracks fear tribal casino expansion would put them out of business. U.S. District Judge Robert C.

California welfare recipients are able to use state-issued debit cards to withdraw cash on gaming floors in more than half of the casinos in the state, a Los Angeles Times review of records found. The cards, provided by the Department of Social Services to help recipients feed and clothe their families, work in automated teller machines at 32 of 58 tribal casinos and 47 of 90 state-licensed poker rooms, the review found. State officials said Wednesday they were working to determine how much money had been withdrawn from casino ATMs by people using the welfare debit cards.

Tribal casino betting grew 13% last year, four times faster than gambling in Las Vegas or on Mississippi riverboats. Tribal casinos took in $14.5 billion last year, compared with $12.8 billion in 2001, according to National Indian Gaming Commission data reported Tuesday by the Desert Sun. The study said nearly all the growth came from expansion of existing casinos.

With glittery Las Vegas-style resorts costing as much as $400 million popping up statewide, California's gambling revenues have topped New Jersey's, and the business is cutting into Reno's profits. If casinos are allowed in major urban centers, more compulsive gamblers will have a chance to pour in more money that might be spent on the family's rent or groceries. Meanwhile, even Native American tribes without casinos are becoming wealthy because of a revenue-sharing program.

A Los Angeles judge has dealt a setback to an attempted crackdown by federal prosecutors on the electronic slot machines used in California's Indian gambling halls. U.S. District Judge Richard A. Gadbois Jr.

With the jingle of countless slot machines, gambling has generated huge revenue for California's once-impoverished casino tribes. Squarely in the middle of those profitable gambling halls stands a stark counterpoint on the wage scale: Many of the busboys, cashiers, cooks, waitresses and other employees of Native American tribal casinos rank among the state's most poorly compensated workers. But change may be coming.

Steve Hunt had never played a hand of poker, never stuffed a quarter in a slot machine. But what he is into now looks like it might pay off. * These days he works at the Cache Creek Indian Bingo and Casino. He is training for a job he hopes will improve the lot of members of his tribe. And he likes the odds. Hunt is no card shark. He's here to learn the gambling business as his tribe considers whether to bet its economic future on opening a casino at its reservation on Vancouver Island, Canada.

Gov. Gray Davis says he is counting on a $1.5-billion share of tribal casino gambling profits to help balance the out-of-whack state budget. He'd be better off trying to win the money on "Jeopardy" or "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." It certainly won't be "The Price Is Right." The tribes are going to demand a lot for that kind of money. How about a casino on the state Capitol lawn -- or across Spring Street from Los Angeles City Hall? Davis announced his goal before he appointed a team Jan.

This is what a recession looks like at Southern California's tribal casinos: Nearly every seat at the 25-cent slot machines is filled. Gamblers wait three deep around the cheapest blackjack tables. The reels on the penny slot machines spin almost without interruption. The Saturday night crowd at the San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino in San Bernardino County reflects what gaming operators say is the new reality of tribal casinos: The visitors are still streaming in, but they have cut way back on spending.

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.

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.

TWO YEARS AGO, CALIFORNIA VOTERS tried to end their gambling addiction, overwhelmingly rejecting Proposition 70, which would have allowed unlimited expansion of Indian-owned casinos. In the interim, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been playing with the state's money, cutting deals with several tribes that allow them to build giant gambling palaces far bigger than anything in Las Vegas. Against the odds, so far he appears to be winning -- for himself and for the state.

Re "Farmworkers Reap Little as Union Strays From Its Roots," Jan. 8 It is truly tragic to read that the United Farm Workers is prostituting its name for political and economic gain. What does political support of tribal casinos and support of homosexual marriage have to do with the welfare of farmworkers, who still struggle to attain life's basic necessities? As an experienced educator who for many years has taught about the positive contributions of the UFW, it is with great dismay that I must now teach about the dark side of the union.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will return a $50,000 donation from a partner in a tribal casino project after Associated Press raised questions about the governor's pledge to limit political contributions, an aide said Wednesday. Schwarzenegger promised during the 2003 recall campaign not to accept campaign contributions from groups that negotiate directly with his office -- specifically identifying tribal gambling as one of those special interests.

A strong majority of Californians believes Indian tribes that own casinos should pay more of their gambling revenue to the state, and does not want card rooms and horse tracks to gain slot machines, a Los Angeles Times poll shows. And regardless of political party affiliation, age, gender or churchgoing habits, California residents have a favorable view of tribes that have casinos and continue to approve of gambling on tribal land.

Zachary Runningwolf Brown trots around a cornfield and into the parking lot of the Palace Indian Gaming Center, reshuffling his papers and eyeing the neon lights of his next adversary. It's Day 22 of his lonely run from Oakland to San Diego to raise money for Indigenous Nations, an agency that provides American Indian foster homes for Indian and mixed-race children. His pitch: Tribes taking in more than $1.

Not much goes on in this fading mill town in the Columbia River Gorge. Asked to name the major industries here these days, Kelly Evans, the manager at River City Hardware, reflected a moment and answered: "Peace and quiet."

Bay Area officials were shocked when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced last year that he had negotiated a compact with the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians to open a giant 5,000-slot-machine casino in San Pablo, twice as many slots as in any other tribal casino in California and more than in any casino in Las Vegas. Worse still, the casino was smack in the San Francisco Bay metro area, violating the promise that casinos would be limited to ancestral tribal lands in rural areas.