Indians Say Casinos Will Suffer by Ruling : Gambling: Despite a court victory on the law enforcement issue, the tribes are barred from reinstalling slot machines any time soon.

Spokesmen for three San Diego County Indian reservations say their tribal casinos will be hurt by a federal court ruling that bars them from replacing lucrative gambling machines seized in October.

In securing a preliminary injunction Monday from U.S. District Judge Marilyn L. Huff, the three tribes scored a victory in their central dispute with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department over who has the power to police Indian gambling halls.

Agreeing with tribal attorneys that only federal authorities have jurisdiction, Huff blocked county prosecutions stemming from the Oct. 30 raids that netted 288 slot machine-type devices from the Barona, Sycuan and Viejas reservations.

But the judge declined to order sheriff’s officials to return the lucrative machines and prohibited the tribes from installing new ones--a severe blow to their efforts to operate full casinos.

“We were obviously pleased to have the court grant the injunction,” said George Forman, attorney for the Sycuan Band of Mission Indians. “But we were disappointed (it) . . . was conditioned on the tribes not replacing the devices.”

While Sycuan still has one of the most successful Indian gambling halls in the nation, “I don’t know if anybody could sit back and wave goodby to $100,000 a month,” Forman said.

Attorneys for the Barona and Viejas reservations said the tribes there are losing more than $7,000 a day each by being denied the machines, in which bettors insert $1 to $20 to play video versions of poker, keno and other games.

“Business is slow,” John Winkelman, the economic adviser to the Viejas tribe, said Wednesday. “You can’t offer something to the public, then take it away, and not be hurt.”

“It’s the difference between profit and loss,” said Art Bunce, attorney for Barona.

The tribal attorneys felt vindicated, however, by Huff’s finding that the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act gives federal authorities “exclusive jurisdiction” over Indian gambling. The judge said any seizures of gambling devices should have been carried out by federal agents, not sheriff’s deputies.

The ruling was the second by a federal judge in California questioning the authority of local law enforcement agencies to carry out an October directive by state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren calling for a crackdown on illegal gambling on California reservations. Last month, a judge in Fresno issued a temporary order blocking prosecution of officials at the Table Mountain Rancheria, which was also raided.

If such rulings stand, the burden of policing tribal gambling would fall to the FBI and federal prosecutors, who traditionally have looked to local agencies to enforce gambling laws.

“They’re very much closer to the situation. They do it across the board, not just on Indian reservations,” said U.S. Atty. William Braniff, the chief federal prosecutor in San Diego.

But Braniff said Wednesday that his office will “reassess our position” if the courts conclude that local authorities no longer have power on Indian land.

Huff said a full trial on the lawsuits brought by the San Diego County tribes will probably be scheduled for March. By that time, the National Indian Gaming Commission is expected to have finalized key guidelines for the gambling that has become a $1-billion industry stretching to 150 reservations across the country.

Two dozen California tribes have experimented with bingo, cardrooms and off-track betting. Following a provision in the 1988 federal law, 10 of them--including the three raided Oct. 30--recently asked the state to negotiate “compacts” that would enable them to add wide-ranging casino games, including gambling machines.

State officials, citing criminal laws banning slot machines in California, say they will deny those requests, a move expected to set off additional court battles.