Indian Gaming Pact
Re “California, Tribe Reach Pact on Slot Machines,” March 7: Howard Dickstein, negotiator of the Pala gaming pact, notes that it is “unusual” for a state to enter a gaming-related pact with Native American tribes and not require revenue sharing. I’m not surprised.
It’s no secret that water is quickly becoming the single most important economic and political issue in California, and it just so happens that California’s indigenous population is legally entitled to a great deal of water. Those tribes are also extremely resistant to efforts to purchase their water rights.
By reducing revenues available through gaming, the state will inevitably force the tribes to begin negotiating the sale of their vast water interests to private water industry players in order to maintain their meager living standards. Gov. Pete Wilson knows that the tribes will end up on the short end of the stick, while the lawyers and politicians swim in the deep seas of the state’s emerging water markets.
LEWIS L. LESTER
Long Beach
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