10 Indian Tribes Ask State to Permit Full-Scale Casinos

Ten California Indian tribes have petitioned the state for the right to conduct wide-ranging casino gambling on their reservations.

A flurry of similarly worded letters sent to the governor’s office over the last two weeks request negotiations of gambling “compacts” that would allow the tribes to run full-scale casinos, including slot machine-type devices.

Coming in the wake of police raids to seize gambling machines at three San Diego County reservations, the move is expected to trigger a fierce legal fight over Indian gambling in California.

“If (the tribes) are talking about slot machines, which they clearly are, it’s prohibited under California law,” said Deputy Atty. Gen. Cathy Christian, who will handle the negotiations for the state. “That’s going to be a major area of contention.”

Tribal attorneys say they expect the state to deny their requests, setting off a legal battle similar to one being waged in Wisconsin. A federal judge shocked officials there in June by ruling that the state’s approval of a lottery was enough grounds for tribes to demand full casinos.

California similarly “is not going to be able to resist,” predicted Berkeley lawyer George Forman, whose firm represents many tribes.

The requests for compacts are being made under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, a 1988 federal law that established a two-level system of oversight for reservation gambling.

The recently formed National Indian Gaming Commission regulates milder forms of wagering such as bingo, poker and paper “pull-tabs.”

All other gambling--the more controversial types--is supposed to be regulated by the states under the negotiated compacts. State officials cannot simply reject games they dislike; under the law, they must permit tribes to offer high-stakes versions of any gambling legal in the state.

The problem for the Indians is that most states, including California, ban gambling machines and oppose their use by reservations.

Instead of seeking compacts, many tribes quietly began using the lucrative gambling machines and lobbied the new commission to classify them as “technologic aids” to bingo or pull-tabs--thus beyond state veto.

But in a stinging blow to the $1-billion Indian gambling industry, the commission announced last month that tribes may not use the machines without state compacts.

Christian, the California deputy attorney general, said last week that requests for such agreements are steadily “dribbling in.”

The language is similar in most of the letters, she said, asking for all gambling “permitted under the act,” including “lottery-type games and electronic or electromechanical facsimiles of games of chance.”

Christian said she will ask the tribes to be more specific, but assumes that the wording is a bid for virtually all casino gambling.

Tribal attorneys confirm that they are banking on getting a favorable court ruling, like the one in Wisconsin. They argue that by legalizing various forms of gambling, California has relinquished its right to oppose reservation casinos.

“When California voted for the lottery and parimutuel terminals, I think they opened the door,” said John Winkelman, attorney for Indians on the Viejas Rancheria in San Diego County, whose gambling hall was one of those raided Oct. 30.

“It’s just a matter of how long they can prevent the Indian tribes (from) becoming competitors to their lottery system.”

He and other tribal representatives are preparing analyses of the technology authorized for California’s Lottery and off-track betting to defend Indians’ use of “instant lottery” machines--which would play much like slots--and other games.

“California can’t moan about (Indians’ running) a wheel of fortune, because they have one--the Big Spin,” said Forman, whose clients include the Sycuan Reservation outside El Cajon, which has one of the most successful tribal gambling halls in the nation.

Also seeking expansive gambling compacts are the Barona Rancheria in San Diego County, Robinson Rancheria in Lake County, Rumsey Rancheria in Yolo County, Table Mountain Rancheria outside Fresno, Trinidad Rancheria in Humboldt County, Twenty-Nine Palms Reservation in San Bernardino County, Fort Independence Reservation in Inyo County and the Hopland band of Pomo Indians in Mendocino County.

Similar requests are expected to be filed soon by other tribes, including several in the Palm Springs area, whose reservations are considered prime locations for gambling.

One company, the Irvine-based Native American Development Corp., is hoping to establish a string of casinos on reservations, including the tiny Twenty-Nine Palms band’s tract in Indio, a short drive from the resort area.

The attorney for that group, Whittier Law School gambling expert I. Nelson Rose, said his bid for a gambling compact takes a more conservative approach than others, requesting machines that are “a more sophisticated lottery terminal,” but not all casino games.

“I think they have to give (the machines) to us,” Rose said. But “I’m not asking for the moon. If a tribe asks for all forms of (casino) gaming . . . that’s impossible. The state can’t give them that.”

California is dotted with 96 Indian reservations and postage-stamp rancherias. About 20 have gambling halls that feature bingo, card rooms or off-track betting. Five still operate the controversial gambling machines.