Indian Casinos in Middle of Battle Over Slots

With seeming impunity, 22 Indian tribes in California offer Nevada-type slot machines in their reservation casinos despite unsettled lawsuits contesting their legality and Gov. Pete Wilson’s steadfast opposition to them.

Just last month, for instance, the Agua Caliente Indians brought slot machines to their downtown Palm Springs hotel casino.

But when the rural Rincon Indians decided to stake out some of the action for themselves and introduced 230 video slot machines at their remote northern San Diego County casino last week, federal authorities wasted no time in pouncing on them.

After just 24 hours of tantalizing operation--when the machines generated more income than the tribe had seen in months, if not years--the tribe was told to unplug them immediately or face $20,000 in daily fines and a freezing of tribal assets.

Monday, the Rincon tribal council begrudgingly promised U.S. District Judge Marilyn Huff that they would keep the machines turned off until a hearing June 12, when the U.S. attorney’s office will seek a court order to keep the machines turned off for good, until the legality of use is resolved once and for all in California.

So goes the latest skirmish in the broadening battlefront of California gambling, with the Rincon Indians wondering why they are now the target of federal prosecution while 22 other California tribes--including three other reservations in San Diego County--offer slot action.

“The U.S. attorney’s office has clearly drawn the line--with us,” said Darrell Gentry, the Rincon tribal administrator. The decision to unplug the slots--despite tribal declarations of Indian sovereignty and accusations of U.S. government oppression--was made to protect the tribe’s assets, Gentry said. Among other projects, the tribal council provides water to the 600-plus residents of the reservation, located in an agricultural valley between Escondido and Palomar Mountain.

The other three reservations in San Diego County--Sycuan, Borona and Viejas--have been allowed to continue operating their 2,500 slots because the machines were introduced before last June, when U.S. Atty. Alan Birsin in San Diego ordered a moratorium on the proliferation of the machines in San Diego County until their legal standing is resolved.

The tribes with slots already in place would be allowed to maintain the status quo, Birsin said.

“We are awaiting the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal’s clarification of the legal framework by which Indian gaming restrictions will be enforced in California,” Birsin said. “In the meantime, any tribe electing to make an investment (in slot machines) prior to that decision does so at its own risk.”

In preparation for the June hearing before Huff, FBI experts will examine the inner workings of the Rincon slot machines, apparently to demonstrate that they are virtually the same as the slot machines played in Las Vegas, which for now are illegal in California.

At the heart of the Indian lawsuits against the Wilson Administration is their claim that since the state offers its own lottery and keno games, it must negotiate agreements with the Indians to offer similar levels of gambling in reservation casinos.